Papal appointment was a medieval method of selecting the Pope. Popes have always been selected by a council of Church fathers; however, Papal selection before 1059 was often characterized by confirmation or nomination by secular European rulers or by the preceding pope.[1] The later procedures of the Papal conclave are in large part designed to prohibit interference of secular rulers, which to some extent characterized the first millennium of the Roman Catholic Church, e. g. in practices such as the creation of crown-cardinals and the claimed but invalid jus exclusivae. Appointment may have taken several forms, with a variety of roles for the laity and civic leaders, Byzantine and Germanic emperors, and noble Roman families.[2] The role of the election vis-a-vis the general population and the clergy was prone to vary considerably, with a nomination carrying weight that ranged from nearly determinative to merely suggestive, or as ratification of a concluded election.
In many cases, the Papal coronation was delayed until the election had been confirmed. Some antipopes were similarly, putatively, appointed. The practice ended with the conclusion of the Investiture Controversy (c.f. confirmation of bishops) due largely to the efforts of Cardinal Hildebrand, the future Pope Gregory VII, who was a guiding force in the selection of his four predecessors, and the 1059 Papal bullIn Nomine Domini of Pope Nicholas II; some writers consider this practice to be an extreme form of "investiture" in and of itself.[3]
Although the practice was forbidden by the Council of Antioch (341) and the Council of Rome (465), the Bishops of Rome, as with other bishops, often exercised great control over selection of their successors, even after the sixth century.[4] In addition, most popes of the fourth to twelfth centuries were nominated or confirmed by a secular power.[4]
Ancient Rome
As to the earliest ages, St. Peter himself constituted a senate for the Roman Church, consisting of twenty-four priests and deacons. These were the councillors of the Bishop of Rome and the electors of his successors. This statement is drawn from a canon in the "Corpus Juris Canonici" (can. "Si Petrus", caus. 8, Q. 1). Historians and canonists, however, generally hold that the Roman bishopric was filled on its vacancy in the same manner as other bishoprics, that is, the election of the new pope was made by the neighbouring bishops and the clergy and faithful of Rome. Nevertheless, some maintain that the naming of the successor of St. Peter was restricted to the Roman clergy, and that the people were admitted to a part in the elections only after the time of Sylvester I (fourth century).[1]
After Constantine had given peace to the Church, the Christian Roman emperors often took part in the institution of a new pope and at times their influence was very marked. From the fourth century onwards, therefore, a new force had to be reckoned with. The occasion for the interference of the Roman emperors and later of the kings of Italy was afforded by disputed elections to the papal chair. The most noted of the earlier instance was at the election of Boniface I (418). This gave occasion to the decree (c. 8, dist. 79) that when an election was disputed a new candidate should be chosen.
"We have reached the turning-point in Papal history. There had been a Duke of Rome, resident of the Imperial house on the Palatine; an exercitus Romanus, which comprised the nobles who, however mixed their blood, fabled a descent from the Cornelii and the other Patricians of classic renown; last, but greatest, the Pontifex Maximus held his court with its array of clerics about the Church of the Saviour. And how did he stand to Dukes and nobles? While the Emperor governed, he was a subject, his election not valid till confirmed from the Golden Horn; and the "army," which claimed to be the Roman People, shared in his naming with the "venerable clergy." Now, was the Duke to continue when the Emperor has ceased? If not, the whole of Italy might be absorbed into the Lombard Kingdom, and the Pope, exercising a purely spiritual jurisdiction, would still have been a subject, liable to the military chief at Pavia, whose government he would consecrate but never share."
"Soon after the German Emperors were seated on the throne, the political subjection of the Pope is, as a matter of history, unquestionable. [...] For a time this doctrine was a formidable instrument in the hands of the Emperor. The great Protector of the Church, in the exercise of his office, watched over the interests of the Roman See, convened general councils, and claimed the tremendous prerogative of nominating, or at least confirming, the Pope. Such a prerogative was exercised from the times of Otho the Great to that of Henry IV. Henry III deposed three schismatical Popes, and nominated more than one German Pope."
Crescentius the Elder, the brother of Pope John XIII, had previously deposed and had strangled Pope Benedict VI, and helped install Antipope Boniface VII in Rome in opposition to the imperial candidates, Pope Benedict VII and Pope John XIV, the latter of which perished in the Castel Sant'Angelo like Benedict V. Crescentius the Younger, the son of Crescentius the Elder, likely had a strong hand in the election of Pope John XV, although the details of that papacy are incomplete and disputed. However, it is known that Crescentius the Younger deferred to Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor for the choice of the successor of John XV: Pope Gregory V, Otto III's cousin. Yet, not long afterward, disputes with the emperor and Gregory V caused Crescentius the Younger to support Antipope John XVI, who was deposed with some difficulty by Otto III, who proceeded to have John XVI mutilated and Crescentius the Younger killed.
Three years later, after a revolt in Rome involving John Crescentius, the son of Crescentius the Younger, Otto III and Pope Sylvester II were expelled from Rome; the three successors of Sylvester II (who was later permitted to return to Rome) were appointed by John Crescentius before he died in the spring of 1012, nearly simultaneously with Sergius IV, allowing the Counts of Tusculum to displace the Crescentii.
Counts of Tusculum
Unlike the Tusculan popes during the "Pornocracy", Benedict VIII, John XIX, and Benedict IX were the Count of Tusculum themselves immediately prior to their becoming pope. Benedict VIII subjugated the Crescentii and made peace with the Holy Roman Empire, crowning Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor on February 14, 1014, nearly two years after his accession to the papacy.
"After the death of the last patricius of the House of Crescentius, the counts of Tusculum seized the authority in Rome, a scion of this family was raised to the papal throne as Benedict VIII, while his brother, Romanus, exercised the temporal power in the city as consul and senator. After Benedict's death Romanus, though a layman, was elected pope between 12 April and 10 May 1024, immediately after which he received all the orders in succession, took the name of John, and sought by lavish expenditure to win the Romans to his cause."
J.P. Kirsch, 1913[78]
Holy Roman Empire
"In the autumn of 1046 the King of Germany, Henry III, crossed the Alps at the head of a large army and accompanied by a brilliant retinue of the secular and ecclesiastical princes of the empire, for the twofold purpose of receiving the imperial crown and of restoring order in the Italian Peninsula. The condition of Rome in particular was deplorable. In St. Peter's, the Lateran, and St. Mary Major's, sat three rival claimants to the papacy. [...] Two of them, Benedict IX and Sylvester III, represented rival factions of the Roman nobility [...] Gregory VI, was peculiar. [...] It was decided that he should summon a synod to meet at Sutri near Rome, at which the entire question should be ventilated. [...] Of the three papal claimants, Benedict refused to appear; he was again summoned and afterwards pronounced deposed at Rome. Sylvester was "stripped of his sacerdotal rank and shut up in a monastery". Gregory [...] deposed himself [...] the papal chair was declared vacant. As King Henry was not yet crowned emperor, he had no canonical right to take part in the new election; but the Romans had no candidate to propose and begged the monarch to suggest a worthy subject.
[...] Short-sighted reformers [...] who saw in this surrender of the freedom of papal elections to the arbitrary will of the emperor the opening of a new era, lived long enough to regret the mistake that was made."
James F. Loughlin, 1913[81]
List of anti-papal appointments
Notes
^ a b c d e f gFanning, William. "Papal Elections." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 6 October 2017]
^ a b c d eGreeley, 2005, p. 20.
^Brauer, Jerald C., and Gerrish, Brian Albert. 1971. The Westminster Dictionary of Church History. Westminster Press. ISBN 0-664-21285-9. p. 216.
^ a bJosep M. Colomer and Iain McLean. (1998). "Electing Popes: Approval Balloting and Qualified-Majority Rule". The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 1-22.
^Matthew 16:18
^“Pope Saint Fabian“. CatholicSaints.Info. 4 February 2017
^"List of Popes - Original Catholic Encyclopedia". Archived from the original on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
^DeCormenin and de Lahaye, 1857, p. 98.
^Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 1842. Penny cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. C. Knight. p. 320.
^Holland, David. 1989. The Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Incorporated. ISBN 0-7172-0120-1. p. 87.
^Coulombe, 2003, p. 96.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope John II" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Evans, James Allan Stewart. 2002. The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-72105-6. p. 65.
^ a bCoulombe, 2003, p. 99.
^William Francis Barry. 1902. The Papal Monarchy from St. Gregory the Great to Boniface VIII. T.F. Unwin. p. 73.
^Coulombe, 2003, p. 101.
^Baynes, Thomas Spencer. 1888. "Pelagius I". The Encyclopædia Britannica. H. G. Allen. p. 473.
^Sotinel, Claire. 2003. "John III" in Levillain. p. 833.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Benedict I" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pelagius II" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Gregory I ("the Great")" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Sabinianus" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Boniface III" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Boniface IV" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Severinus" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope John IV" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Theodore I" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Martin I" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
