The Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was one of the most powerful pan-European institutions. It was thanks to her efforts that it was possible to coordinate the conflicting interests of the Western European countries, and the region in which they were located turned into a rather integral and monolithic community.
History of the Catholic Church
The main dogmas of the Christian faith had time to form even before the beginning of the Middle Ages. In a concentrated form, they were recorded in the Creed, adopted in 325 at the Council of Nicaea. Since that time, 264 years have passed, and the Catholic Church decided to make a very significant addition to it, which finally separated the eastern and western branches of Christianity. We are talking about the famous dogma (589), which states that the source of the Holy Spirit is not only God the Father, but also God the Son. Most likely, this provision was adopted in order to gain the upper hand in a protracted controversy with the Arians. By adding to the formula of faith(“I believe in one God”) addition “and the Son”, the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages introduced a new, more subordinate interpretation of the Trinity: it turned out that the Son is younger than the Father, despite the fact that both are sources of the Holy Spirit. Despite the fact that this point of view caused controversy, in 809, with the support of Charlemagne, it was finally enshrined at the Council of Aachen.
There is another important innovation that the Catholic Church adopted in those days. In the Middle Ages, the Roman pontiff Gregory 1 the Great first voiced the idea of the existence of some intermediate place between hell and heaven, where the guilty righteous could atone for their minor sins. Based on this assumption, the dogma of purgatory arose. Another innovation was the postulate of a stock of good deeds. According to this dogma, the righteous and saints do so many good deeds in their lives that there are too many of them for personal salvation. As a result, the “surplus” of good is accumulated in the church and can be used to save less righteous parishioners. This idea has received a very practical application: the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages began selling indulgences. Beginning in 1073, the title of "pope" began to belong only to the bishop of Rome. According to the doctrine of the apostolic heritage, all those attributes of power that once belonged to the apostle Peter, who led the first 12 apostles, pass to him. In 1870, this thesis was finally enshrined at the Vatican Council in the form of a dogma on the supremacy of the pope.
The role of the Catholic Church in our time
Despite the fact that the power of the Western branch of Christianity has noticeably diminished these days, it is too early to say that the influence of this organization in the modern world means nothing. The Catholic Church is still a powerful public institution that can easily change public opinion on this or that issue. Since the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church has managed to accumulate enormous we alth. In the United States, its organizations have an estimated net worth of about $100 billion and an annual income of $15 billion. It is only natural that an organization as large and well-funded as the modern Catholic Church stands firmly behind its global interests. Despite internal contradictions and some separation from the people, the influence of this organization in the Western world is still at a very high level.
