The coming papal conclave is just days away and, within days or weeks of the doors to the Sistine Chapel closing, the Catholic Church will have a new pontiff. The coming days and weeks will be exciting and crucial not just for Catholics, but for the entire world. The Catholic Church is effectively the bedrock of Western civilization — even the significant contributions of the Greco-Roman world were only preserved after the fall of the Roman Empire by Catholics, and brought further into accord with the fullness of truth which the Church safeguards. The actions of the next pope will not only be important for Catholics, but will impact and shape the entire world.
Almost since the beginning of the Catholic Church, the pope has wielded great authority and influence. St. Peter, was such a bold witness for Christ that the Roman Emperor Nero had the first bishop of Rome crucified. (Considering himself unworthy to suffer the same death as Christ, Peter requested to be crucified upside down.) The fifth pope, St. Evaristus, developed the idea of parishes within each diocese, an idea further developed and implemented by St. Fabian, which would later shape how churches, cities, and even nations organized territories and borders. Pope St. Pius I determined that Easter should only be celebrated on a Sunday, while St. Soter made the celebration of Christ’s resurrection an annual feast.
As time went on and the Church grew in stature, the popes also found themselves with new responsibilities. Pope St. Leo the Great famously rode out to meet the warlord Atilla the Hun and convince him not to sack Rome. Later, Leo negotiated with the Vandals to spare the lives of Roman citizens when the barbarians invaded the city. Pope St. Gregory the Great rewrote and revised the calendar, yielding the Gregorian calendar that is still in use today; sent missionaries to convert England to Christianity; and is considered to have laid the foundation for the medieval ages. The administrative and liturgical forms Gregory instituted served as the unifying force binding medieval Europe together for centuries after.
Pope St. Stephen II was the first sovereign of the Papal States, a gift from the Frankish king Pepin the Short, the son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor. From the mid-8th century until 1870, the Papal States served to either increase or safeguard the pontiff’s authority and geopolitical influence, denoting his role as both a temporal and spiritual ruler. Later that same century, Pope St. Leo III crowned Charlemagne the first Holy Roman Emperor, another influential office which would shape the Western world for centuries.
Pope John VIII distinguished himself as a political and even military tactician, confronting Muslim expansion into Italy and fortifying Rome against Saracen raids. His immediate successors were political powerbrokers, reshaping Europe through their friendships and alliances.
Several, including John VIII, were assassinated due to their influence. The Saeculum obscurum saw the papacy’s influence wane over the course of nearly a century, but the pope once again regained his influence during the reign of Pope John XIII, who established the first bishop in Poland and bolstered Rome’s ties to England, Germany, and Bohemia, further uniting Europe.
Prior to assuming the Chair of St. Peter, Clement II oversaw the depositions of several bishops who claimed to be pope, restoring order to the papacy and subsequently enacting strict rules to prevent the abuse of blessings. Clement’s friend and benefactor, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, later had to continue overseeing order in Rome when various deacons and bishops bribed their way into the papacy, resigned, and deposed each other.
Pope Nicholas II addressed this corruption with election reforms, ensuring that the College of Cardinals alone were responsible for electing the pontiff. Pope St. Gregory the VII later drove at the root of the issue, instituting moral reforms. Blessed Pope Urban II launched the first crusade, impacting not only medieval Europe but the Middle East for centuries to come, fostering cultural exchange, eventually bringing the Franciscans to the Holy Land, and reasserting the pope’s temporal and political authority.
Pope Innocent III continued the crusades, but used the threat of excommunication to keep marauding knights and princes from turning their attention from the reconquest of the Holy Land to the sacking of Christian cities. He oversaw changes to canon law which would later influence almost all administration and law in the Western world, even today.
The remainder of the medieval ages saw popes found cities, oversee and ratify treaties between kingdoms and nations, end wars and conflicts, establish and reform educational institutions, prohibit the practice of slavery, and send missionaries to Asia. Pope Sixtus IV is credited with sparking the Renaissance, bringing together artists, sculptors, architects, and musicians who would later become the champions of artistic revival, innovation, and beauty.
A few years later, Pope Julius II would commission Michelangelo to paint the famous Sistine Chapel ceiling. Additionally, he authorized missionaries and bishoprics in the New World, introducing Catholicism to the Americas.
Popes Leo X, Adrian VI, Clement VII, and Paul III all found themselves facing a fracturing Europe, torn asunder by protestant revolutions, starting in Germany and England. The popes moved to excommunicate heretics, preserve the unity of the Church, and maintain order in Europe.
Pope St. Pius V convened and concluded the Council of Trent, excommunicating England’s Queen Elizabeth I, distinguishing the Catholic faith from protestant dilutions, and instituting sorely-needed reforms within the Church. He also called together the Christian League to confront the incursions of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, culminating in the decisive victory of the Battle of Lepanto.
Over the next several hundred years, the attention of the papacy was turned increasingly towards theological and ecclesial matters, including regulating the Jesuits, prohibiting freemasonry, and declaring new doctrines and feast days. Although the temporal and political activity of the pontiffs may have ebbed, their influence and authority did not. Popes crowned kings and princes, organized armies, and spoke out against evils such as the French Revolution. In 1870, Pope Pius IX fought against the Italian army when Italy invaded and dissolved the Papal States and attempted to take Rome.
As the modern age began to dawn, Pope Leo XIII issued the landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum, which has influenced the politics of the more-than-200 years since. In Rerum Novarum, Leo condemned communism and established the moral guidelines which ought to guide capitalism. The encyclical established Catholic social teaching (so often mischaracterized and weaponized today by modernists and progressives) and shaped Christian democracy across the world.
In subsequent years, Pope Benedict XV intervened for peace during the First World War, and Popes Pius XI and Pius XII opposed communism and Nazism, with the latter having to lead the Church through the Second World War. Popes Ss. John XXIII and Paul VI convened and concluded (respectively) the Second Vatican Council, introducing reforms which remain controversial today and shaping the direction and influence of the Church into the 21st century.
Perhaps the most prominent of the recent popes in global influence was Pope St. John Paul II, who supported the Polish Solidarity movement against communism and frequently spoke strongly against the evils of communism. His 1979 apostolic visit to his home country behind the iron curtain galvanized anti-communist and patriotic sentiment, culminating a little over a decade later with the fall of the Soviet Union.
Even Pope Francis played a pivotal role in global affairs. The late pontiff facilitated covert communications between the U.S. and Cuba, eventually bringing an end to decades of hostility, and attempted to broker an end to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Given the tumultuous state of the world at present and the precarious position of the Catholic Church internally, it may be expected that whoever emerges next to the cry “Habemus papam!” will, like so many of his predecessors, play a pivotal role in shaping the world.
READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy:
The Spectator P.M. Ep. 133: The Next Pope and the Future of the Church
