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Schism in the Western Church

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Schism in the Western Church Schism in the Western Church Recently, Christians have heard much about the split in the Eastern Orthodox Church, between the church in Istanbul (Constantinople) and the church in Moscow. In October 2018, the patriarch of Constantinople agreed to the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — independent from their allegiance to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Church rejects the patriarch’s action. In an article in November 2018, Our Sunday Visitor reported on this developing story in the Eastern Church: “The move breaks sacramental union between the two leading Churches in Eastern Christianity, and it places the other … independent Orthodox Churches in the awkward position of being in union with two patriarchs who are no longer in communion with each other..” The situation in the Ukraine stems from the 2014 Russian occupation of the Crimea that alienated many Catholics from the church in Moscow. More than 600 years ago, the Western Church also experienced a split — a schism in Church unity. Schism in the West From 1378 through 1417, a great schism took place in the Church of Rome, and the divide resulted from the election of more than one pope. There were two popes from 1378 to 1409 and three popes from 1409 until 1417. How could this have happened? Boniface VIII Public domain The background to this unfortunate situation began in 1294, when Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303) was elected to the Chair of St. Peter. It was the intent of Boniface to return the papacy to the time of Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216), who had dominated both the Church and secular rulers. However, times had changed, there was a growing sense of nationalism in many countries, and monarchs were not eager to allow the pope to meddle in affairs of state. This was particularly true of King Edward I of England (r. 1272-1307) and King Philip IV of France (r. 1285-1314). When Boniface began his reign, both Edward and Philip were taxing the clergy in order to support their empires and, in particular, to maintain a strong standing army. Pope Boniface pointed out that the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 had forbidden the taxing of clergy without the pope’s approval; consequently, he issued a papal bull threatening excommunication of monarchs implementing such taxation. Philip and Edward quickly acted to oppose Boniface. Edward confiscated the holdings of the clergy in England and discontinued protecting the clergy from common law, a protection that long existed. Philip stopped all Church contributions made by Catholics in France from being sent to Rome. Boniface soon backed down, amending his bull and saying that the clergy in certain circumstances could be taxed. This was the beginning of a series of continuous controversies between Philip and Boniface. In 1301, Philip tried and incarcerated a French bishop, a protégé of Boniface, for alleged treasonous acts. Boniface took offense, claiming in a papal bull that a monarch did not have authority to try a member of the clergy without the pope’s approval. Boniface aggravated the issue further by withdrawing his previous decision regarding taxing of the clergy. Philip responded with a widespread effort to condemn Boniface, saying, among other things, that he was a heretic and was practicing nepotism. Eventually the pope indicated he was going to depose Philip and issued a papal encyclical, Unam Sanctam (“One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority”), in November 1302 in an effort to consolidate spiritual and temporal powers under the pope. It includes the statements, “… outside of her [the Church] there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins,” and the last line, “Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” Everyone including King Philip was subject to the pope. Boniface seemed to have pulled out all the stops. Philip IV receives the homage of Edward I for Aquitaine in this 15th century painting by Jean Fouquet. Public domain After more name-calling and accusations, King Philip conducted a deplorable act. He authorized the kidnapping of Boniface, which occurred Sept. 3, 1303, and tried to force the pope to resign. The pope was rescued but died within a few weeks. His replacement was Benedict XI (r. 1303-04), who excommunicated all those involved in the kidnapping except Philip. Within nine months, Benedict died as well. No disciplinary measure was taken against the French king. It took months before a new pope was elected. During his reign, not only did Boniface alienate secular leaders, but he made enemies among the elite ruling families of Rome and Italy. Certain of these families began acting in a violent manner against the papacy and against other families. At the same time, there were warring factions in some of the papal states. The situation in Italy was not harmonious, and not having a pope only worsened the internal strife. It took the cardinals 11 months to select a pope, a Frenchman, Clement V (r. 1305-14), who was not a cardinal but the archbishop of Bordeaux, France. King Philip was able to influence Clement to receive the papal crown at Lyons, France, in June 1305. Clement immediately lifted the excommunication of those involved with Boniface’s kidnapping, as well as annulling any of Boniface’s papal edicts that were at odds with Philip. He next appointed more French cardinals and, after several years of moving around France from place to place, decided not to return to Rome. He established the papacy in Avignon, France, where it remained for over 70 years. Avignon papacy Clement quickly fell under the domination of the French monarchy and appeared to the world to be the servant of the monarchy. The idea of the Bishop of Rome living in France was not well-received by the People of God. Originally it was considered a temporary location until the ongoing political struggles in Rome and Italy had receded. But, both motivated and pressured by French influence, it was not temporary; in 1309 the Curia relocated to Avignon, and soon there were new buildings being constructed to accommodate an ever-growing staff, who were predominantly French. The pope was French, the majority of cardinals were French (around 80%) and the staff was French. Seven popes would rule from Avignon between 1305 and 1377, all Frenchmen. While the Avignon papacy was condemned by many, the popes were all legitimately elected. Any official Church list of popes includes those reigning from Avignon. Some were weak and had failings, but the Avignon papacy was not without its accomplishments, especially in the areas of governing policies, refinement of canon law and expanded missionary efforts. Most of the popes verbalized a desire to return to Rome, but nothing happened until Pope Urban V (r. 1362-70) went back to Rome for three years, only to return to Avignon because of problems between France and England. Five years later, it was St. Catherine of Siena who persuaded Pope Gregory XI (r. 1370-78) to make a permanent move to Rome (see sidebar on Page 12). Her petition to the pope included: “No longer resist the will of God, for the starving sheep await for you to return to the see of St. Peter. … Come without fear, for God will be with you. Do not wait, for time does not wait. Respond to the Holy Spirit. Come like a lamb who, unarmed, lays low his enemies, making use of the arms of love” (“How to Read Church History,” Vol 1). The Palais des Papes served as the pope’s residence hosted six papal conclaves. Shutterstock Permanent return to Rome In 1377, after seven popes and nearly 70 years of being located and reigning from Avignon, France, the papacy returned to Rome. The Avignon papacy was a long and disturbing period in Catholic history, and there was expectation that resettlement in Rome would bring normalcy to the Church, but such was not the case. A major rift erupted following Gregory’s death in March 1378 — less than a year after returning to Rome — when the Italian populace demanded that a Roman, or at least an Italian, be selected as pope. Pope Urban VI, left, and Clement VII, right. Public domain At the time, 16 of the 26 cardinals constituting the College of Cardinals were in Rome and would select Gregory’s replacement. They included 11 Frenchmen, four Italians and one Spaniard. The dominance of the French cardinals was not lost on the Italian people, who publicly and angrily protested the possible election of another French pope and potential return of the papacy to Avignon. The cardinals elected an Italian, Urban VI (r. 1378-89) in April 1378. While the Italians rejoiced, the cardinals soon were disappointed with their selection. Urban was overbearing, autocratic and immediately condemned the lavish lifestyle that the cardinals had grown accustomed to in Avignon. According to the book “The Papal Princes: A History of the Sacred College of Cardinals” by Glen D. Kittle: “The new pope turned out to be a wild man. There were some doubts that he was completely sane. He whipped [lashed] out at the cardinals until none of them dared enter his presence. He swore to end the French influence.” No matter, Urban was fully recognized as the rightful pope. The cardinals reacted by leaving Rome in August of that year, gathered at Fondi, Italy, and urged Urban to give up the papal crown. They claimed his selection was fraudulent because they had elected him under duress, intimidation and threats from the Italian people. When Urban refused, the same cardinals who had duly elected him deposed of Urban, and on Sept.
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