<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Alapmű a címben megjelölt témában:</div><div><a href="https://szitkonyvek.hu/papa-szentszek-vatikan-72744">https://szitkonyvek.hu/papa-szentszek-vatikan-72744</a></div><div><img src="cid:ii_mfzozaer0" alt="1158605_4.jpg" width="243" height="321"></div><div>A Ferenc pápa általi változtatások még nincsenek ebben a kiadásban. (dikasztériumok, stb.)</div><div><br></div><div>***</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_mfzp5fpb1" alt="images.jpg" width="291" height="173"></div><div><img src="cid:ii_mfzp74bn2" alt="images.jpg" width="167" height="167"><br><br><br></div><div>ÜdvözletteL.</div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">Emoke Greschik <<a href="mailto:greschem@gmail.com">greschem@gmail.com</a>> ezt írta (időpont: 2025. szept. 25., Cs, 17:22):<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<div><div><div><div id="m_-8768222504257327945gmail-:1m2"><div id="m_-8768222504257327945gmail-:1mt"><div dir="ltr"><div id="m_-8768222504257327945m_465456446038406931gmail-:nw"><div dir="ltr"><h1><font size="4">Looking at a High Point of the Middle Ages</font><font size="2">: </font>The Dictatus Papae of Saint Gregory VII</h1> <div>
<span>by <span><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/author/roberto-de-mattei/" title="View all posts by Roberto de Mattei" rel="author" target="_blank"><span>Roberto de Mattei</span></a></span></span> <span>September 22, 2025</span></div><div><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2025/09/looking-at-a-high-point-of-the-middle-ages-the-dictatus-papae-of-saint-gregory-vii/" target="_blank">https://www.returntoorder.org/2025/09/looking-at-a-high-point-of-the-middle-ages-the-dictatus-papae-of-saint-gregory-vii/</a></div>
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<p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">The pontificate of Saint Gregory VII (1073-1085) (</span></b>born Hildebrand of Soana) constitutes <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">one of the high points of the Christian <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2022/10/dispelling-errors-defending-the-church-how-lies-about-the-middle-ages-ultimately-target-the-church/" target="_blank">Middle Ages</a>. </span></b>The pinnacle of his pontificate is <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the <em>Dictatus Papae,</em> a collection of twenty-seven statements defining the pope’s prerogatives and his relationship with<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> </span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">temporal authority.</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4">In it, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Gregory proclaimed the pontiff’s <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2025/08/sacrality-or-vulgarity/" target="_blank">superiority</a>
over </span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the emperor </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">in religious and moral matters</span></b>. He asserted for the
Papacy the role of the highest and most preeminent power on earth. This
work was likely written between 1075 and 1078, at the height of the
bitter <b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">conflict with</span> the German ruler Henry IV. </span></b>At the time, Henry was
not yet Holy Roman Emperor. Nonetheless, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">he had already initiated the
so-called investiture controversy <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">against </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the Church.</span></span></b></font></p>
<p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">“<em>The Roman Pontiff</em>,” affirms St. Gregory VII, “<em>is rightly called u</em><em>niversal</em>.” </span></b>(n. 2<b>); “<em>his title is unique in the world</em>” (n. 11); “<em>no one can judge him</em>” (n. 19); “<em>the Roman Church has never erred" </em></b></font><b>
<font size="4">(n. 18)</font>
<font size="4">); </font>
<font size="4"><em>"nor </em><em>will it ever err for all eternity, according to the testimony of the Scriptures</em>” (n. 22); </font>
<font size="4"> “<em>no one can reform </em><em>any</em><em> </em><em>statement</em><em> he issues</em><em>; </em><em>conversely, he can reform any statement issued by anyone else.</em>”</font></b><font size="4"><b><em> </em></b>furthermore<b>, “it is licit for the pope <em>to depose emperors</em>” </b>(n. 12) and <b>“<em>he can release subjects from fidelity to the wicked</em>”</b> (n. 27).</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Theologically, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">by appealing to his role as universal pastor, Gregory
rejects <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the assertion </span><span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)">that the papal throne cannot </span>excommunicate <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">kings
</span>or release <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">their subjects </span>from their bonds of fealty. </span></b>The doctrine of
Saint Gregory VII is <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>based on the words with which Our Lord invested <a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2025/02/saint-peter-was-a-saint-not-a-tyrant/" target="_blank">Saint Peter</a>—the
power to bind and loose both on earth and in Heaven</b></span>—and on various
passages from Gregory the Great and other writers. He questioned how it
could be possible to maintain that he who has the power to open and
close the gates of Heaven does not have the power to judge the things of
this world. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">According to Gregory, Peter was constituted sovereign over
<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the world’s kingdoms. </span></span></b>To him, God subjected all the principalities and
powers of the earth, granting him the power to bind and loose in Heaven
and on earth. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">Kings and emperors are </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">not </span><span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)">exempt from</span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> those divine and
natural laws to which <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">all men </span>are subject and the Church is the
guardian.</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">During the synod of February 1076</span></b>, consistent with these claims,
<b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Gregory VII dismissed and excommunicated </span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the German King Henry IV</span></b>. In
the process, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Gregory also exempted </span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Henry’s </b></span><b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">subjects </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">from <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">their </span>oath of
fealty</span></b>. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">Henry’s </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">excommunication and deposition were renewed at the Roman
Synod of 1080,</span></b> when Gregory confirmed the election of Rudolph of Swabia
as Emperor.</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">In 1119, the Archbishop of Vienna, Guy of Burgundy, was elected Pope
at Cluny, taking the name Callixtus II (1119-1124). He invoked the
teachings of Gregory VII. On October 29-30 of the same year, a great
synod took place in Reims in the presence of more than 400 bishops.
There, the pope renewed the condemnation of<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> </span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">Emperor Henry V, son of
Henry IV. </span></b>As the pope pronounced the words of excommunication, the four
hundred bishops broke the candles they held. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Later, the Concordat of
Worms (1122) ended </span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the investiture controversy. </span></b>It recognized the
Church’s direct universal supremacy on the spiritual plane and its
indirect power on the temporal plane. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Callixtus II then held the Ninth
Ecumenical Council in the Lateran in March 1123. </span></b>It was also the first
assembly of all bishops held in the West. At it, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the new agreement
between the Church and <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the Empire </span>was solemnly confirmed.</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">The eighth statement of the Dictatus Papae, according to which “Only
the pope can use the imperial insignia,” </span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">has sparked controversy
throughout the centuries. </span>Yet this statement <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">encapsulates the entire
political theology of the Middle Ages. The Church is not only the
supreme spiritual authority but also the source of <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">imperial authority</span>.
The Church possesses two means of coercion. The first is spiritual,
ecclesiastical censures. The second is material, the right to <em>vis armata</em>. This constitutes the juridical-canonical foundation of the <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2024/07/its-time-to-abandon-the-populists-godless-crusades/" target="_blank">Crusades</a>,
as proclaimed by the Roman Pontiffs in the name of this authority. This
thesis was later enunciated, among others, by Saint Bernard of
Clairvaux </span></b>when, in the treatise <em>De consideratione</em>, he reminds
Pope Eugene III that both swords—the spiritual and the material—belong
to the pope and the Church. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">This relationship is depicted in the art of
<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the period</span>. The pope is always depicted at the top, <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">and the emperor
stands one step below to </span>his <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">left</span>. </span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">Below the emperor are all the kings
and sovereigns of the temporal sphere. Then, gradually, the artist
depicts <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">all members of the Catholic hierarchy who govern the spiritual
sphere</span>.</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">The power of excommunication and deposition of<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> </span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">sovereigns, </span></b>which
transcends the Middle Ages, stems from this doctrine. <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">In 1535, Pope Paul
III declared <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">King Henry VIII </span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">of England</span> deprived of <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">his</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">kingdom</span>. </span></b>On
February 25, <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">1570, Saint Pius V issued a declaration against <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">Queen
Elizabeth Tudor </span>in which, in the name of the powers conferred upon him,
he declared <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">her</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">guilty of heresy</span>.</span></b> <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">She</span> was subsequently excommunicated
and deprived of<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> her</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)">supposed right to </span>the English crown. </span></b>No oath of
fidelity bound her subjects to her any longer. Indeed, , they were
forbidden to obey her under penalty of excommunication.</font></p><p><font size="4">In the fifth book on <em>De Romano Pontifice</em><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">, Saint Robert
Bellarmine explains that divine right <u>does not </u>give the pope <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">direct
temporal jurisdiction.</span> He does, however, possess extensive indirect
jurisdiction. </span></b>The Jesuit Doctor also bases this conclusion on the <em>Dictatus Papae</em> of
Saint Gregory VII. Two eminent twentieth-century jurists, Father Luigi
Cappello and Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, considered this to be <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the
position of the Magisterium of the Church as described in their manuals
of <em>Ecclesiastical Public Law</em>, which educated the clergy until
recent times</span></b>. Cardinal Alfonso Maria Stickler also confirmed it in his
studies on the history of canon law. The power to excommunicate and
depose a prince derives from the <em>plenitudo potestatis</em> of the Church, founded on its power to loose and bind.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Gregory VII’s Dictatus <em>Papae</em>, like other famous documents such as Boniface VIII’s bull <em>Unam Sanctam and</em><em> Pius IX</em><em>’s Syllabus</em>, is an essential text for understanding the Church’s thinking on the relationship between the spiritual and temporal orders.</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Saint Gregory VII gave his name to the most profound reform of the
Church <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">in the Middle Ages</span></span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">.</span> <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">His was a genuine spiritual and moral reform,
also founded on the fullness of power of the Vicar of Christ, the <em>plenitudo potestatis</em>.
Gregory VII would have liked to complete his spiritual reform by
calling a grand crusade against<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> the infidels</span></span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">.</span> However, that task fell to
his successor (one of his disciples), Blessed Urban II, a Cluniac
Benedictine, who had the honor of proclaiming <b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">it. The epic of the
Crusades was born from the spirit of Gregorian and Cluniac reform to the
cry of “<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/07/how-blessed-isabel-of-france-shows-that-suffering-is-more-important-than-enjoying-life/" target="_blank"><em>God wills it</em><em>.</em></a>” That most illustrious chapter of the Church’s history took place between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries</span></b>.</font></p><div></div><div></div><div>
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