The Church and the Empire

Chapter 7

Pope Gregory114-115

Pope Gregory and the Empire

• One of the Church’s most effect leaders

• Became Pope in 590 A.D.

• Negotiated peace with the Barbarian invaders.

• Maintained a peaceful society

• Converted the Barbarians to Christianity.

Pope Gregory and the Empire

• Many Christian practices became our traditions within the Church

• Celebrating the feast and honoring Saints.

• Belief that these holy men and women interceded for us in Heaven.

Pope Gregory and the Empire

• Church adopts the organization of the Roman legal system.

• The Byzantine emperor Justinian ( rule began in 527 A.D.) made a collection of laws called cannon law.

• The Church became the center for education, music and art.

• People looked to the Church for spiritual and political leadership.

Cannon Law

•The collection of the laws of the Catholic Church.

Pope Gregory and the Empire

• Pope Gregory’s leadership helped the Church to become the center of authority in place of the Roman government.

• United the Church and the State into one society.

• The society of the Roman Empire become known as Christendom.

Christendom

• The name given to the growth of the Church in the territory and in both temporal, or political, and spiritual authority resulting in the pope’s authority exceeding that of the emperor and eventually kings.

Pope Gregory and the Empire

• In the 8th century, Pope Leo III asked Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, to help stop attacks on the Church.

• Because of Charlemagne’s victory that resulted in the unification of most of western Europe, Pope Leo II crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Pope Gregory and the Empire

• The Church’s authority and government authority were one.

• Today, the basis for a just society continues to be natural law.

• God’s law, written upon everyone’s heart, that allows man to know the difference between good and evil.

Natural Law

•The foundation of the moral life for everyone. It is part of human nature and allows people to know the difference between good and evil.