Continues
from the previous post –
These
two modifications, Mary as Mother God and rising of Jesus from his
tomb to heaven, were essential to accept the religion in name of
Jesus by Roman people. This struggle continued throughout two
centuries of Christian era. However, some section of Roman Church
continued to resist this formation of Catholic Church under St. Peter
and St. Paul. During this period both Roman Church and Roman Catholic
Church existed simultaneously. In their conflicts, many Roman
Catholic Church priests were killed. St. Peter and St. Paul were also
killed in that fight for power over people. They were declared as
martyrs for the cause of Church.
We
have seen how Roman Catholic Church came to be and how the initial
work of foundation was done by St. Peter and St. Paul. They died in
that endeavor and so they are popular as martyrs for the Church. Here
after we shall see how this institution of Church made further
advances in the course of time. These advances were more in temporal
status than spiritual.
Many
popes in the first three centuries of the Christian era are obscure
figures except St. Peter and St. Paul. Several suffer martyrdom along
with members of their flock in periods of persecution by Roman
Church. Most of them are much involved in theological argument with
other bishops, as the young church flexes its doctrinal muscles. This
was the period when old Roman Church and new Roman Catholic Church
were at loggerheads. This tussle continued for about three centuries,
at the end, Roman Catholic Church came out winner and Roman Church
was fully converted to Roman Catholic Church, this happened as the
royalty, finally accepted authority of Catholic group over Roman
Church and converted to Christianity. After this, the Roman Catholic
Church began to advance at phenomenal speed in converting people to
Christianity. Hereafter, the power of Roman Catholic Church began to
be called Papacy.
During
the Early Church, the bishops of Rome enjoyed no temporal power until
the time of Constantine. After the fall of Rome (the "Middle
Ages", about 476), the papacy was influenced by the temporal
rulers of the surrounding Italian Peninsula; these periods are known
as the Ostrogothic Papacy, Byzantine Papacy, and Frankish Papacy.
Over time, the papacy consolidated its territorial claims to a
portion of the peninsula known as the Papal States. Thereafter, the
role of neighboring sovereigns was replaced by powerful Roman
families during the saeculum
obscurum, the
Crescentii era, and the Tusculan Papacy.
Catholics
recognize the pope as the successor to Saint Peter, whom Jesus
presumably designated as the "rock" (word peter also means
a rock) upon which the Church was to be built. Although Peter never
bore the title of "pope" (Latin papa), Catholics recognize
him as the first pope and Bishop of Rome, because he had the office,
but not the title. Official declarations of the Church speak of the
popes as holding within the college of the bishops a position
analogous to that held by Peter within the college of the Apostles,
namely, "Prince of the Apostles", of which the college of
the Bishops, a distinct entity, is the successor.
Continues
in next post –
You may contact
me on my Email ID given below,
You are invited to
visit my other blogs
Ashok
Kothare, http://ashokkotharesblog.blogspot.com/
for
stories
I
reckon,
http://kotharesviews.blogspot.com/
for philosophy
You
may visit blog, Freedom of Expression,
http://blogs.siliconindia.com/kothare/
for intelligent discussions.
Freedom
of Expression, http://kothare-thinks.blogspot.in/
Marathi
blog, http://kothare-marathi.blogspot.in/
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