Pope Research Articles

Gelasius and the Ostrogoths: jurisdiction and religious community in late fifth‐century Italy

This essay examines the relationship between Gelasius, bishop of Rome from 492 to 496, and the Ostrogothic court, which occasioned several jurisdictional questions: the Roman church’s authority to adjudicate controversies within suburbicarian Italy, the proper venue to judge disputes involving clerics, and the appropriate involvement of the Ostrogoths in resolving these questions. Importantly, Gelasius did not identify the Ostrogoths as Arian heretics; but neither did he view their religion as equivalent to his own. This ambiguity, together with Theoderic’s stated aim of preserving traditional Roman law, provided Gelasius with rhetorical ammunition as he attempted to navigate the vexing jurisdictional landscape that characterized Ostrogothic Italy.

The Pope of Rome – a Desirable Celebrant of the Mass for King Davit – in the Prologue of the Poem “The Man in the Panther’s Skin”

The text of the famous Georgian poem “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” arrived to us in the present day through relatively different versions, preserved in numerous manuscripts. Respectively, numerous differences can be found in the prologue of the poem (a final version of which has not yet been established), as presented in those various manuscripts. The prologue of the poem in several old manuscripts contains two stanzas dedicated to King Davit, whose identity has yet to be determined, although several opinions have been expressed – e.g. by Sargis Kakabadze – as to who he might be. In the two stanzas, the king is portrayed as a very powerful and influential monarch, to whom even the neighboring monarchs submit. The author of the poem also presents a local monarchical legend, according to which the Georgian king is a descendant of the biblical King David. The poet also opines that a holy mass should be celebrated by the Pope in the name of the king. A scrupulous analysis has allowed me to advance the supposition that the King Davit of the prologue of the poem is King Davit X (1505-1525) of Kartli, who considered himself the King of All Georgia. The statement that it is necessary for a mass in the name of the king to be celebrated by the Pope takes its basis in the close relationship of Georgia with the Roman See, which became especially intense during the reign of King Davit's grandfather Giorgi VIII and his father Konstantine II, and continued during the reign of Davit’s son Luarsab I, and his grandson Svimon I. Some documents about King Davit himself, of which there are few, also support the supposition that King Davit of the prologue of the poem “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” was indeed King Davit X.

Alberto Ferreiro, Epistolae Plenae: The Correspondence of the Bishops of Hispania with the Bishops of Rome (Third through Seventh Centuries)

Alberto Ferreiro, Epistolae Plenae: The Correspondence of the Bishops of Hispania with the Bishops of Rome (Third through Seventh Centuries)

A szegényekért élni és egymás testvérének lenni. Megjegyzések Ferenc pápa pontifikátusának két meghatározó aspektusáról

Drawing on Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, the paper examines two important aspects of the ongoing pontificate. Since his election as Bishop of Rome in 2013, the pope has shown particular concern for the poor and encouraged efforts to promote fraternity across borders. Not only has he made gestures to demonstrate the importance of these two themes, but he also addressed them in his magisterial statements which will be systematically analysed in this article. Besides other themes, this essay also detects key ideas preceding the notion of the preferential option for the poor and of universal fraternity in the ecclesial tradition, especially in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.

The serbs and the war against the Turks in the letters of Francesco Filelfo

Francesco Filelfo (Tolentino 1398 ? Florence 1481) was one of the humanists to gain a thorough knowledge of Greek in Constantinople, where he lived in the 1420s. The young learned man was integrated into the Byzantine establishment. In particular, the heir and joint emperor John VIII Palaiologos appointed him as his personal secretary. On behalf of John, Filelfo attended the international congress in Buda in 1423; he met personally with the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, Despot of Serbia Stefan Lazarevic and other European leaders. He also went to Kovin on his return to Constantinople. In his Letters to Roman popes, kings and princes, the Italian humanist proposed to serve as an alter Nestor, a man who would give better advice on the war against the Turks. He is particularly interested in Serbian history. In this respect, he mentions the most important events relating to the Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire, such as the sacrifice of Lazar in the Battle of Kosovo polje (1389), the legendary defense of Belgrade in 1456, and the fall of the fortress of Smederevo in 1459. Filelfo?s Letters represent an extraordinary testimony on Western Balkan history.

Preliminary Approach Regarding Eastern and Western Christian Churches in Medieval Maramureș County

Abstract The present research investigates the presence and coexistence of two denominations, the Western and Eastern Christian faith, in medieval Maramurefi county. For this, a close analysis of medieval published documents was performed. Along with these primary sources, the historiography of the subject was also consulted. The survey shows that both denominations were well-represented both institutionally and through active members, even if measures were taken by the bishops of Rome and kings of Hungary against the Eastern Christian faith in the realm. We hope that future archival and archaeological research will lead to new findings that will contribute to a better understanding regarding the historic coexistence of the two denominations in Maramureş County.

Budáról Rómába

Rome was the centre of European diplomacy from the middle of 15th century to the depredation of the city in 1527. The formation of certain countries’ foreign representations happened in this period, the appearance of the system of the residing envoys and their spread in a wide range. In this process, when the international relations were modernized, the Holy See, the Republic of Florence and of Venice served as a model. The Roman pope as the primary head of Christianity paid extra attention to the regular connections with the particular churches. As the centre of the Respublica Christiana in the second half of the 15th century, the Eternal City became the supranational heart of European diplomacy; as a consequence every princely court and Signoria was represented by an envoy on the banks of Tiber. The diplomatic representation of king Mathias Corvinus and the Jagiellonian dynasty in the Holy See was multilevel and continuous. In my paper, I am analysing the representation of the Kingdom of Hungary in Rome in the late Middle Ages by focusing on the following questions: What status and nationality did the appointed envoys have? What qualifi cations did they have and what was expected of the diplomats?

L’omofonia ecumenica patriarcale

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. L’odierno dibattito sulle prerogative patriarcali costantinopolitane e il gathering di Amman - 3. La ratio attributiva delle prerogative ecclesiastiche romane al vescovo di Costantinopoli-ΝέαςῬώμης - 4. Le prerogative ecclesiastiche costantinopolitane - 5. Il conferimento imperiale del titolo patriarcale al vescovo di Roma e di patriarca ecumenico al vescovo di Costantinopoli-Νέας Ῥώμης - 6. L’ecumenicità dell’omofonia patriarcale - 7. Osservazioni finali.
 Patriarchal ecumenical homophony
 ABSTRACT: The establishment in 2019 of a new Ukrainian autocephaly raises the question of the legal basis of exclusive Constantinopolitan canonical prerogatives. As is known, after the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, can. cost. 3 of 381 attributes the Roman prerogatives to the bishop of Constantinople-Νεα Ρωμη.The ethnarchical religious role, assumed by the Roman bishop, guardian of the Romanitas, (conceived as the apostolic heritage of the Roman church), determines the Eastern emperors to confer the patriarchal title (previously reserved for the Jewish etnarch of Palestine), to Roman pope and ecumenical patriarch, to the bishop of Constantinople, which became the only seat of the imperium.The Justinian articulation of the ecclesiastical order comes to highlight in the homophony of patriarchs the attestation of the unity, doctrinal and disciplinary, in the Church of the ecumenical empire. Therefore, today's panorthodox reception of Ukrainian autocephaly cannot be considered an ecclesial burden due to the universal canonical authority of the patriarchate of Constantinople. Consequently, the primates cannot accept it in the name of the respective autocephalous Church, in contrast with canon 34. In respect of the nomocanonical tradition, today's Ukrainian controversy must therefore be submitted to the assembly of patriarchs in order to reach a canonical unanimous (homophone) solution to the controversy.

Sfide accessibili oggi. Riflessioni sui sottotitoli per non udenti e sull’audiodescrizione

This contribution contains some reflections on two accessible translating modalities, subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and audio description. It aims to reflect on some open challenges by commenting on examples drawn from The Kings’ Speech (2010) and The Two Popes (2019). More specifically, on the one hand it deals with the difficulties of conveying information related to the acoustic code, by means of the texture and nuances of the voice, paralinguistic traits and background music. On the other it discusses how to transpose meaning from the visual code for a visually impaired audience, focusing especially on information connected with compositional and editing strategies. Finally, it briefly hints at accommodating the translation of multiple languages within audio description.

Zur Kollegialität des Bischofsamtes im Lichte der Communio-Ekklesiologie des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils

"The collegiality of the episcopate was a particular concern of the Second Vatican Council. Consequently, ordination always integrates the individual bishop into the college of bishops, so that the episcopal authority conferred on him personally can only be exercised as a member of this college. Through the exercise of the collegiality of the bishops, the synodality of the churches is also expressed. In this context, it can be stated that for centuries the universal Church understood itself as a community of the many local churches of equal theological rank, which were in communion with one another. In the first three centuries, the primacy of Rome in the communion was much more strongly connected with the entire Roman community and not with a person or an office. In the West, a new form of ecclesiastical self-understanding and self-realization established itself in the fifth century, in which the bishop of Rome with his office increasingly detached himself from his own church. This ultimately led to the development of a centralised papal church, which was predominant in the second millennium. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Pope has once again been seen primarily as the bishop of a local church, and only from there as the bearer of primacy, and therefore he remains visibly and concretely inserted into the collegiality of the bishops in the service of the synodality of the churches."

A legislação canônica da escolha dos bispos do Concílio de Trento até o Código de Direito Canônico de 1983

O Concílio de Trento, ocorrido no meio do século XVI, foi uma importante reforma na história da Igreja. Por meio dos debates realizados nas sessões conciliares de Trento, a Igreja tratou sobre o tema das escolhas dos bispos. Isso resultou em significativas resoluções normativas que foram de grande relevância para aquele contexto eclesial. Logo após a normativa tridentina, surgiram muitas orientações pontifícias de cunho jurídico que também regulavam acerca dos requisitos e da escolha dos candidatos ao episcopado. Embora aquilo que fora definido em Trento e pelos papas posteriores não se aplicava para toda a Igreja, uma vez que havia as chamadas concordatas com os estados modernos. Esses acordos firmados entre a Igreja e os estados não eram uniformes, mas cada um tinha prescrições de acordo com cada realidade. Em alguns casos, a autoridade eclesiástica não tinha condições de agir, dando total benefício e privilégios ao poder temporal. Em meio a essa situação, foi promulgado o Código de Direito Canônico de 1917, o qual obteve uma grande vitória ao legislar que somente o romano pontífice nomearia os bispos, respeitando o ius particulare. O Concílio Vaticano II tratou sobre as nomeações episcopais no Decreto Christus Dominus, o qual requisitava que as nomeações episcopais fossem realizadas pela autoridade pontifícia. Pouco tempo depois, o papa Paulo VI emanou alguns documentos regulando a matéria até a chegada do Código de Direito Canônico de 1983 que regulamentou a designatio episcoporum.

RAZÓN Y LIBERTAD SEGÚN JOSEPH RATZINGER-BENEDICTO XVI: UNA PROPUESTA PARA LA NUEVA EVANGELIZACIÓN

In recent decades, the Roman Pontiffs have begun to speak of a “new evangelization”. Its novelty consists in the fact that it is addressed to a new type of society: the post-Christian society or that which is in the process of becoming one. Societies which fit into this category are characterized by postmodernity, that is, by the rejection of the meta-narratives of modernity, but not overcoming the fundamental notions on which these meta-narratives are based. This article studies the Ratzingerian critique of two of the founding notions of modernity – the modern understanding of reason and freedom – as well as some ways that, in his opinion, could serve to broaden and purify them in the light of Revelation.

'For it is improper to be addicted to the tedium of affliction': Christian Responses to Pandemic in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

The current COVID-19 pandemic has seen some turn to the past to see if the historical evidence provides any assistance to forecasting the probable duration and intensity of the disease and the length of time until a vaccine or cure is found. In this paper, on the contrary, the aim is to look to the present situation to help understand the past. The current pandemic, which seems impossible to halt even as vaccines start to roll out, and threatens to destroy the way people interact with one another and provide for their families has undermined confidence in the progress of medical science and the human mastery over the natural world. The fear and helplessness that has come in its wake is much the way people in previous centuries felt in the face of rampant and uncontrollable disease. In this paper several episodes of the first bubonic plague, known as the plague of Justinian, that lasted from the sixth to eighth centuries, as reported by Gregory I, bishop of Rome, and Gregory, bishop of Tours, both active at the end of the sixth century, will be explored. In light of our own experience of vulnerability because of the impotence of modern medicine so far to offer protection, we are better able to appreciate the reaction of people who lived in Lombard Italy and Merovingian France to intractable natural disaster.

Sachet, Paolo. Publishing for the Popes. The Roman Curia and the Use of Printing (1527–1555).

Sachet, Paolo. Publishing for the Popes. The Roman Curia and the Use of Printing (1527–1555).

Pope Well Noted

Pope Well Noted

Christian “anarchism” of three cosmists (st. Francis of Assisi, N.F. Fedorov, Pope Francis)

The philosophy of three prominent Christian thinkers is considered: St. Francis of Assisi, Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov and Pope Francis. Despite the time distance, each of them sets forth common ideas. It is claimed that the link between these individuals is the philosophy of cosmism. A typical representative of this trend is Nikolai Fedorov, but thinking in the categories of cosmism is also noted in the works of St. Francis of Assisi and Bishop of Rome. It is proposed to call them Christian anarchists who violate the fossilized structure of the church and society. The specificity of their anarchism is emphasized, devoid of negative features, built in the image of Christ and leading to the renewal of the sacred space, the Earth. The basic concepts of each of the three Christian anarchists are considered. The analysis of their philosophy allows for the formulation of the thesis that the ideas they propose to restructure the world and society are based on the principle of Christ – “not by force, but by love”.

Publishing for the Popes: The Roman Curia and the Use of Printing (1527–1555), by Paolo Sachet

<i>Publishing for the Popes: The Roman Curia and the Use of Printing (1527–1555)</i>, by Paolo Sachet

The Passage of the Pope of Esophagology.

The Passage of the Pope of Esophagology.

Review of Pope Francis, Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future

Review of Pope Francis, Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future

In the Service of the Empire: Pope Zosimus and the Roman Synod of 417

Introduction. The brief pontificate of Pope Zosimus (417–418) was marked by the Roman Synod in September 417, the decisions of which were of great importance both for the subsequent church-administrative development of Southern Gaul and for the development of the concept of papal primacy. Methods. The task of the authors of the article is to analyse the church-political actions of Pope Zosimus in the broad historical context of the early 5th c. and to determine the degree of his independence in decision-making. Analysis. The article analyses the measures of the Ravenna court to restore control over the region of Southern Gaul in the situation when the imperial administration lost this control as a result of mutinies and the arrival of barbarian tribes, as well as the role assigned to the Roman bishop in this process. In this context, the article investigates the events of the Roman Synod of September 417, at which church-political and church-administrative affairs related to Gaul and Africa were examined. There were considered two groups of cases, related to one another due to the involvement of same persons, who, in their turn, had been involved into ecclesiastical politics in Gaul during the usurpation of Constantine III. These persons, former bishop of Arles Heros, former bishop of Aquae Sextiae (Aix en Provence) Lazarus and bishop of Marseille Proculus, became subjects of conciliar condemnation. At the same time, within the framework of the same process, the Synod undertook the rehabilitation of Pelagius and Caelestius, who had previously been condemned by the African Synod and pope Innocent I (401–417). The latter circumstance actually implied the undermining of the authority of both Innocent and the papacy. Results. The authors conclude that the agenda of the Synod was entirely dictated by state interests and aimed at eliminating the consequences of the usurpations in Southern Gaul and reintegrating this region into the administrative system of the Western Roman Empire.