The Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was one of the most powerful pan-European institutions. It was thanks to her efforts that it was possible to coordinate the conflicting interests of Western European countries, and the region in which they were located turned into a fairly integral and monolithic community.
History of the Catholic Church
The main dogmas of the Christian faith managed to take shape even before the beginning of the Middle Ages. In concentrated form, they were recorded in the Creed, adopted in 325 at the Council of Nicaea. 264 years have passed since that time, and the Catholic Church decided to make a very significant addition to it, which finally divided the eastern and western branches of Christianity. This is a famous dogma (589), which states that the source of the Holy Spirit is not only God the Father, but also God the Son. Most likely, this provision was adopted in order to prevail in the protracted polemic with the Arians. By adding the addition of “and the Son” to the formula of faith (“I Believe in One God”), the Catholic Church introduced a new, more subordinate interpretation of the Trinity in the Middle Ages: it turned out that the Son is younger than the Father, despite the fact that both are sources of the Holy Spirit. Despite the fact that this point of view was controversial, in 809, with the support of Charlemagne, it was finally fixed at the Council of Aachen.
There is another important innovation that the Catholic Church adopted in those days. In the
Middle Ages, the Roman pontiff Gregory 1 the Great first voiced the idea of the existence of an intermediate place between hell and heaven, where the guilty righteous could atone for their minor sins. Based on this assumption, the dogma of purgatory arose. Another innovation was the postulate of the stock of good deeds. According to this dogma, the righteous and saints perform so many good deeds in their lives that there are too many of them for personal salvation. As a result, the “excess” of good accumulates in the church and can be used to save less righteous parishioners. This idea received a very practical application: the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages began selling indulgences. Beginning in 1073, the title “pope” became owned only by the Roman bishop. According to the doctrine of the apostolic heritage, it is to him that all those attributes of power that once belonged
to the apostle Peter, who headed the first
12 apostles, pass to him
. In 1870, this thesis was finally fixed at the Vatican Council in the form of a dogma on the supremacy of the pope.
The role of the Catholic Church in our time
Despite the fact that the power of the western branch of Christianity is noticeably reduced these days, it is too early to say that the influence of this organization in the modern world does not mean anything. The Catholic Church is still a significant public institution, which can easily change public opinion on a particular issue. Since the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church has managed to accumulate enormous wealth. In the United States, the assets of its organizations are estimated at approximately $ 100 billion, and the annual income is at the level of $ 15 billion. It is quite natural that such a large and well-financed organization as the modern Catholic Church firmly defends its global interests. Despite internal contradictions and some separation from the people, the influence of this organization in the Western world still remains at a very high level.