The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church claims that the first pope, the apostle Peter, received power from the hands of Jesus Christ himself. Ever since, eighteen days after the death of the previous one, the next earthly governor of God has been elected. The pope in Catholicism is considered the head of the whole church. It is selected by the conclave - the meeting of cardinals - for life. He has high honors. Before the pope ascends to the throne, a bloodless sacrifice is made. Then he puts on a special headdress - tiara. This is not the usual miter of the bishop, but the crown, consisting of three teeth, as a sign that the Pope now receives power in the world beyond the grave, earthly and ecclesiastical. His special status is confirmed by the church tradition by inheriting the authority from the apostle Peter, and hence from Christ. In addition, the Pope is also the head of the Vatican - a state that occupies a small area (44 hectares) on the territory of Rome and enters into diplomatic relations with virtually all countries of the world. This was facilitated by the independence of the Western bishops (as opposed to the eastern ones) from secular power.

The notion that only the church can give power to state rulers began to form after the western territory of the Roman Empire fell . Each regular pope conducted his policy. Under the noble pretext of the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher, he organized and led military campaigns. And in the 1 st century Pope John VIII supplemented the right of the Catholic Church to decide whether to allow or prohibit the coronation of the rulers and the right to take away their crown.

The divergence between the two churches (eastern and western) increased every year. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, convened in 787, only increased friction. And they were connected not only with questions of ideology and church dogmas, as most uninitiated think, but also for political reasons. The fact is that at that time the Byzantine Empire carried out successful expansion on the Apennine peninsula. Naturally, the rulers of Rome strongly opposed this. The starting point was the conflict provoked in 862-870 by Mikhail III. He deposed Ignatius, the patriarch of Constantinople, and in his place put Photius, a secular man, who has nothing to do with the church world. This was not liked by Nicholas I, the Roman Pope. Subsequently, this conflict did not lead to a long confrontation, but it did not completely cease too. The aggravation of contradictions occurred in 1054. It ended with the official and final separation of the two churches of the Christian world.

Since then, the papacy has a reverse side. Along with the growth of his prestige and influence on politics, the behind-the-scenes struggle and intrigues between the cardinals interested in who will be in power grew. There was also such a period in the life of the church, when the clergy received only to have an influence on politics, on secular rulers. Dads came to each other to replace, even without waiting for the death of his predecessor. Often the candidate, who was previously deposed, managed to regain his throne. Indicative case when Pope Benedict IX in the XI century, his right to the post was restored more than once. Moreover, he himself sold the throne to the next candidate.

During the following centuries the papacy reborn many times and fell into decay, committed both errors and good deeds. On the crimes of the Catholic Church much became known only after the conquest of European countries by Napoleon: in these territories he abolished the Inquisition.

And only in our days John Paul II publicly apologized for the crimes committed by the Catholic Church in the whole history of its existence. It was this pope who reformed the structure of the church, developed a modern version of the functions and the social role of the church. He repeatedly urged priests not to participate in the activities of politicians. John Paul II saw the main mission of the church in the liberation of the world from conflicts, but not through political methods, but through the evangelical service to the whole of mankind, in spiritual shepherding.