I might have mentioned earlier that I am no theologian. Somebody pleeeaaaase help me to understand the following things.
- Was the name RCC known before 1054?
The way I see it is that the RCC is like a parent who lost a child and is not getting over it. How else do you explain thier acceptance of the other churches/ while ignoring the modern protestant movements, and their obsessoins with the Anglican church?
In the beginning the early Christians were quite often refered to as the Church of God, as in the Church of God at Corinth! ([vs 10,Corinth.[.later The Churches were organised in to larger groups and took the name of some powerful section. In Britain it was the political tribe or race,i.e. The Celtic Church or the English or Anglican one. With Rome,the capital City of the Empire and the powers given by the Emperor to rule the Suburbicarian diocese
that is, diocese originally in the suburbs that surround Rome,later this was extended to cover all southern Italy and the island. All these took the name Roman. Thus at some time early they were known as the Roman or Roman Catholic Church.
There’s no doubt that the power of Rome grew and its authority spread all over Western Europe. Yet that authority came from either the State or the Church, Rome had no authority other than what was given from Christ’s Revelation, Scripture and Consensus.
This was possessed by all other bishops and patriarchs and was of apostolic origin.
That didn’t stop the papacy from trying however! Success,of a kind came with the Donation of Constantine and other forgeries.
By the 15th, Century, there was a trend to restore the traditional authority and curb the magisterium of the pope. This was tried through the means of the Councils and even succeeded in reducing the number of popes from 3 to 1. Sir Thomas More , wrote to Cromwell, 5th, March 1534,
" As for the General Councils assembled lawfully… the authority thereof ought to be taken for undoubtable, or else there in,nothing no certainty …For albeit that I have for mine own part such opinions of the popes primacy as I showed you , yet never thought I the pope above the general council."
By the 16th, Cent calls for a general council became shrill from both clergy and laity, eventually one was called at TrentVery few attended, no one trusted the organisers, the Papacy! The pope had recourse to denuding his own Roman Church of Bishops by sending his own Suburbicarian ones and offering them money,‘to cover their expenses’!
After packing it as far as he could ,it was then he called upon his organising clique to forbid any discussion of the papacy and to vet anyone who the pope disapproved of, near the end they did not allow the bishops there to mix openly putting them in groups to discuss certain subjects and they were not allowed to discuss with other groups or in the main hall. Finally they were ordered to refer final acceptance to the papacy.The delegates were not allowed to vote acceptance on their own.
In Britain the pope issued a fatwa against Elizabeth and tried to change the Government by means of civil war and a Spanish Invasion. His few supporters went in to schism and became known as [finally,] Romans, Romanists, or Roman Catholics , simply because they followed the Roman Church which had by means of a coup taken control off the catholic Church in Europe, It then became known collectively as the Roman Catholic Church.
The result was that there was two hundred years of complaints from the French Church and the Jansenists, or part of them caused a schism in 1713 that turned in to the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht by 1870.
