Kings elected Popes?

[phil19034]

Or out of financial reasons. If bishop x dies the Church didn’t want to have to give any of its riches away to a potential wife possibly. The Catholic Church like any other organized institution has always had to deal with greed. Just look at this idiot bishop that spent 40 million on his residence. Thank God for Pope Francis getting rid of this greedy disgrace.

Priestly celibacy isn’t rooted in financial reasons. Its rooted by the practices of Jesus and St. Paul. St. Paul believed that the celibate priest could better devote his entire life to the service of God and the flock.

 

[DavidFilmer]

Does anyone have a book on some of the history of all of this, something a little more friendly than reading encyclopedia entries on each of the Popes?

I highly recommend Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes by the renowned Catholic historian/author Eamon Duffy.

The subtitle is a bit misleading. It’s not really a history of the Popes (indeed, he specifically mentions only a few) but of the Papacy itself.

Very informative and readable. It does seem to bog down a bit in the middle, but rewards the reader with a fantastically written ending. Few books of this type can keep me up at night, but this one did.

 

[twf]

There can only be one President of the United States at a time, and there can only be one Bishop of Rome at a time.

During the Western Schism it APPEARED that more than one person was validly elected, but only one actually was. It took some time to sort it out, and during that process, people were confused as to who the valid pope was. Eventually, everything was sorted out.

Is this a problem in any way?

On a practical level, prior to mass communications, I don’t think the average Catholic knew or necessarily even cared who the reigning Bishop of Rome was. As per the ancient model, he was in communion with his local bishop, and his bishop was in communion with Rome. This is still true, but due to modern forms of communication, we are all able to follow the Pope of Rome on a daily basis (if we so choose).