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103-517: The construction of the current bridge occurred between 1473 and 1479, and was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471–84), after whom it is named, from the architect Baccio Pontelli , who reused the foundations of a prior Roman bridge , the Pons Aurelius , which is also known as Pons Antoninus and had been destroyed during the early Middle Ages. Currently traffic on the bridge is restricted to pedestrians. (According to Mandell Creighton's History of

206-498: A Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter , to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. While his office is called the papacy , the jurisdiction of the episcopal see

309-582: A clear difference in status between those who had converted and those who resisted. The ecclesiastical penalties were directed towards those who were enslaving the recent converts. As a civic patron in Rome, even the anti-papal chronicler Stefano Infessura agreed that Sixtus should be admired. The dedicatory inscription in the fresco by Melozzo da Forlì in the Vatican Palace records: "You gave your city temples, streets, squares, fortifications, bridges and restored

412-654: A few other references of that time to recognition of the authoritative primacy of the Roman See outside of Rome. In the Ravenna Document of 13 October 2007, theologians chosen by the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches stated: Both sides agree that this canonical taxis was recognised by all in the era of the undivided Church. Further, they agree that Rome, as the Church that "presides in love" according to

515-540: A hereditary ally and champion of the papacy. The angered Italian princes allied to force Sixtus IV to make peace to his great annoyance. For refusing to desist from the very hostilities that he himself had instigated and for being a dangerous rival to Della Rovere dynastic ambitions in the Marche , Sixtus placed Venice under interdict in 1483. He also lined the coffers of the state by unscrupulously selling high offices and privileges. In ecclesiastical affairs, Sixtus promoted

618-575: A layman as Pope Leo VIII . John mutilated the Imperial representatives in Rome and had himself reinstated as pope. Conflict between the Emperor and the papacy continued, and eventually dukes in league with the emperor were buying bishops and popes almost openly. In 1049, Leo IX travelled to the major cities of Europe to deal with the church's moral problems firsthand, notably simony and clerical marriage and concubinage . With his long journey, he restored

721-732: A line of Della Rovere dukes of Urbino that lasted until the line expired, in 1631. Six of the thirty-four cardinals that he created were his nephews. In his territorial aggrandizement of the Papal States , his niece's son, Cardinal Raffaele Riario (for whom the Palazzo della Cancelleria was constructed) was suspected of colluding in the failed Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 to assassinate both Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano and replace them in Florence with Sixtus IV's other nephew, Girolamo Riario . Francesco Salviati , Archbishop of Pisa and

824-596: A main organizer of the plot, was hanged on the walls of the Florentine Palazzo della Signoria . Sixtus IV replied with an interdict and two years of war with Florence. However, Infessura had partisan allegiances to the Colonna and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial. The English churchman and Protestant polemicist John Bale , writing a century later, attributed to Sixtus "the authorisation to practice sodomy during periods of warm weather" to

927-473: A passion like his Lord's! Where Paul wins his crown in a death like John's where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile! According to the same book, Clement of Rome was ordained by Saint Peter as the bishop of Rome. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp

1030-430: A patron of the arts, Sixtus was a patron of the sciences. Before he became pope, he had spent time at the very liberal and cosmopolitan University of Padua , which maintained considerable independence from the Church and had a very international character. As Pope, he issued a papal bull allowing local bishops to give the bodies of executed criminals and unidentified corpses to physicians and artists for dissection. It

1133-519: A pope" and "true flood of corresponding lampoons, reviling poems, and fictional epitaphs" following his death are at the very least evidence for his contemporaries' opinions about the promotions of these young men. The secular fortunes of the Della Rovere family began when Sixtus invested his nephew Giovanni with the lordship of Senigallia and arranged his marriage to the daughter of Federico III da Montefeltro , duke of Urbino ; from that union came

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1236-585: A structure before Rome. In Rome, there were over time at various junctures rival claimants to be the rightful bishop, though again Irenaeus stressed the validity of one line of bishops from the time of St. Peter up to his contemporary Pope Victor I and listed them. Some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, but not necessarily monarchical bishops. Documents of

1339-465: Is addressed to Pope Cornelius , and affirmed his unique authority in the early Christian Church. Cornelius [the Bishop of Rome] was made bishop by the choice of God and of His Christ, by the favorable witness of almost all the clergy, by the votes of the people who were present, and by the assembly of ancient priests and good men. And he was made bishop when no one else had been made bishop before him when

1442-462: Is by Antonio del Pollaiuolo ; it was completed by 1493. The top of the casket is a lifelike depiction of the Pope lying in state. Around the sides are bas-relief panels depicting allegorical female figures representing Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Painting, Astronomy, Philosophy, and Theology—the classical liberal arts , with the addition of painting and theology. Each figure incorporates

1545-557: Is called the Holy See . It is the Holy See that is the sovereign entity under international law headquartered in the distinctively independent Vatican City, a city-state which forms a geographical enclave within the conurbation of Rome , established by the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between Fascist Italy and the Holy See to ensure its temporal and spiritual independence. The Holy See

1648-438: Is recognized by its adherence at various levels to international organizations and by means of its diplomatic relations and political accords with many independent states. According to Catholic tradition , the apostolic see of Rome was founded by Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the first century. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in human history . In ancient times,

1751-602: Is seen as an exercise of Roman authority over other churches, excommunicated the Quartodecimans for observing Easter on the 14th of Nisan , the date of the Jewish Passover , a tradition handed down by John the Evangelist (see Easter controversy ). Celebration of Easter on a Sunday, as insisted on by the pope, is the system that has prevailed (see computus ). The Edict of Milan in 313 granted freedom to all religions in

1854-409: Is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church . He is also known as the supreme pontiff , Roman pontiff , or sovereign pontiff . From the eighth century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States , and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City state. The reigning pope is Francis , who was elected on 13 March 2013 . From

1957-562: The Acqua Vergine as far as the Trevi ..." In addition to restoring the aqueduct that provided Rome an alternative to the river water, which had made the city famously unhealthy, he restored or rebuilt over 30 of Rome's dilapidated churches such as San Vitale (1475) and Santa Maria del Popolo , and he added seven new ones. The Sistine Chapel was sponsored by Sixtus IV, as was the Ponte Sisto ,

2060-575: The Edict of Thessalonica declared Nicene Christianity to be the state religion of the empire, with the name "Catholic Christians" reserved for those who accepted that faith. While the civil power in the Eastern Roman Empire controlled the church, and the patriarch of Constantinople , the capital, wielded much power, in the Western Roman Empire , the bishops of Rome were able to consolidate

2163-800: The Gallican Church and could never be shifted as long as Louis XI manoeuvred to replace King Ferdinand I of Naples with a French prince. Louis was thus in conflict with the papacy, and Sixtus could not permit it. On 1 November 1478, Sixtus published the papal bull Exigit Sincerae Devotionis Affectus through which the Spanish Inquisition was established in the Kingdom of Castile . Sixtus consented under political pressure from Ferdinand of Aragon , who threatened to withhold military support from his kingdom of Sicily . Nevertheless, Sixtus IV quarrelled over protocol and prerogatives of jurisdiction; he

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2266-577: The Middle Ages , popes struggled with monarchs over power. From 1309 to 1377, the pope resided not in Rome but in Avignon . The Avignon Papacy was notorious for greed and corruption. During this period, the pope was effectively an ally of the Kingdom of France , alienating France's enemies, such as the Kingdom of England . The pope was understood to have the power to draw on the Treasury of Merit built up by

2369-569: The Sistine Bridge (the first new bridge across the Tiber since Antiquity), and the building of Via Sistina (later named Borgo Sant'Angelo ), a road leading from Castel Sant'Angelo to Saint Peter. All of that was done to facilitate the integration of the Vatican Hill and Borgo with the heart of Old Rome. That was part of a broader scheme of urbanization carried out under Sixtus IV, who swept

2472-540: The Tusculan Papacy . The papacy came under the control of vying political factions. Popes were variously imprisoned, starved, killed, and deposed by force. The family of a certain papal official made and unmade popes for fifty years. The official's great-grandson, Pope John XII , held orgies of debauchery in the Lateran Palace . Emperor Otto I had John accused in an ecclesiastical court, which deposed him and elected

2575-703: The approaching end of the world . Gregory's successors were largely dominated by the exarch of Ravenna , the Byzantine emperor 's representative in the Italian Peninsula . These humiliations, the weakening of the Byzantine Empire in the face of the Muslim conquests , and the inability of the emperor to protect the papal estates against the Lombards , made Pope Stephen II turn from Emperor Constantine V . He appealed to

2678-420: The cardinals , who sometimes attempted to assert the authority of Catholic Ecumenical Councils over the pope's. Conciliarism holds that the supreme authority of the church lies with a General Council, not with the pope. Its foundations were laid early in the 13th century, and it culminated in the 15th century with Jean Gerson as its leading spokesman. The failure of Conciliarism to gain broad acceptance after

2781-467: The unification of Italy . In 1929, the Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See established Vatican City as an independent city-state , guaranteeing papal independence from secular rule. In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as dogma, the only time a pope has spoken ex cathedra since papal infallibility was explicitly declared. The Primacy of St. Peter ,

2884-568: The "Cardinal of Santa Lucia". This prompted the noted historian of the Catholic Church, Ludwig von Pastor , to issue a firm rebuttal. Sixtus continued a dispute with King Louis XI of France , who upheld the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438), which held that papal decrees needed royal assent before they could be promulgated in France. That was a cornerstone of the privileges claimed for

2987-580: The "Old St. Peter's Basilica" on the location of St. Peter's tomb, as held and given to him by Rome's Christian community, many scholars agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero , although some scholars argue that he may have been martyred in Palestine. Although open to historical debate, first-century Christian communities may have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as guides of their local churches. Gradually, episcopal sees were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such

3090-399: The "oculus" or eye lightening the masonry of its central spandrel : this was erected to diminish the river's pressure on the bridge in case of flood. On the left bridge head are placed the copies of two marble slabs (removed in the 1990s after continued vandalism) bearing an elegant Latin inscription composed by Renaissance humanist Bartolomeo Platina in honour of Sixtus IV in occasion of

3193-703: The 15th century is taken as a factor in the Protestant Reformation . Various Antipopes challenged papal authority, especially during the Western Schism (1378–1417). It came to a close when the Council of Constance , at the high point of Concilliarism, decided among the papal claimants. The Eastern Church continued to decline with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, undercutting Constantinople's claim to equality with Rome. Twice an Eastern emperor tried to force

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3296-420: The 1st century and early second century indicate that the bishop of Rome had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, as even a letter from the bishop, or patriarch, of Antioch acknowledged the bishop of Rome as "a first among equals", though the detail of what this meant is unclear. Sources suggest that at first, the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, with

3399-611: The 5th century. One of his first acts was to declare a renewed crusade against the Ottoman Turks in Smyrna . However, after the conquest of Smyrna, the fleet disbanded. Some fruitless attempts were made towards unification with the Greek Church . For the remainder of his pontificate, Sixtus turned to temporal issues and dynastic considerations. Sixtus IV sought to strengthen his position by surrounding himself with relatives and friends. In

3502-581: The Canary Islands, and in the spring of 1478, they sent Juan Rejon with sixty soldiers and thirty cavalry to the Grand Canary, where the natives retreated inland. Sixtus's earlier threats to excommunicate all captains or pirates who enslaved Christians in the bull Regimini Gregis of 1476 could have been intended to emphasise the need to convert the natives of the Canary Islands and Guinea and establish

3605-461: The Catholic faith, and because he heads the world's largest non-government provider of education and health care , with a vast network of charities. The word pope derives from Ancient Greek πάππας (páppas)  'father'. In the early centuries of Christianity, this title was applied, especially in the East, to all bishops and other senior clergy, and later became reserved in

3708-460: The Christian community, the bishops as a body have succeeded to the body of the apostles ( apostolic succession ) and the bishop of Rome has succeeded to Saint Peter. Scriptural texts proposed in support of Peter's special position in relation to the church include: I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you

3811-672: The Church between the years 900 and 1050, centres emerged promoting ecclesiastical reform, the most important being the Abbey of Cluny , which spread its ideals throughout Europe. This reform movement gained strength with the election of Pope Gregory VII in 1073, who adopted a series of measures in the movement known as the Gregorian Reform , in order to fight strongly against simony and the abuse of civil power and try to restore ecclesiastical discipline, including clerical celibacy . This conflict between popes and secular autocratic rulers such as

3914-454: The Church's ordination. Irenaeus of Lyons ( c.  130 – c. 202 AD), a prominent Christian theologian of the second century, provided a list of early popes in his work Against Heresies III . The list covers the period from Saint Peter to Pope Eleutherius who served from 174 to 189 AD. The blessed apostles [Peter and Paul], then, having founded and built up the Church [in Rome], committed into

4017-511: The Donatists (367 A.D) . In the book, Optatus wrote about the position of the bishop of Rome in maintaining the unity of the Church. You cannot deny that you are aware that in the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head—that is why he is also called Cephas [‘Rock’]—of all the apostles; the one chair in which unity is maintained by all. The Catholic Church teaches that, within

4120-696: The Eastern Church to reunify with the West. First in the Second Council of Lyon (1272–1274) and secondly in the Council of Florence (1431–1449). Papal claims of superiority were a sticking point in reunification, which failed in any event. In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople and ended the Byzantine Empire. Protestant Reformers criticized the papacy as corrupt and characterized

4223-709: The Franks to protect his lands. Pepin the Short subdued the Lombards and donated Italian land to the papacy. When Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne (800) as emperor, he established the precedent that, in Western Europe, no man would be emperor without being crowned by a pope. The low point of the papacy was 867–1049. This period includes the Saeculum obscurum , the Crescentii era, and

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4326-575: The Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and King Henry I of England , known as the Investiture controversy , was only resolved in 1122, by the Concordat of Worms , in which Pope Callixtus II decreed that clerics were to be invested by clerical leaders, and temporal rulers by lay investiture. Soon after, Pope Alexander III began reforms that would lead to the establishment of canon law . Since

4429-584: The Italian historian Stefano Infessura , Diary of the City of Rome , Sixtus was a "lover of boys and a sodomite" ( Latin : puerorum amator et sodomita ) awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours and nominating a number of young men as cardinals. Sexualised polemics, in truth concerned with politics and not the sexual lives of their victims, were not uncommon during this time; but as Pfisterer (sic) notes "the novel flood of accusations of sodomy against

4532-716: The Papacy, the Sistine Bridge was built of blocks from the Coliseum. Further, that Sixtus was mindful of the disaster which had occurred in the Jubilee of 1450 through the crowding of the Bridge of S. Angelo, which was the only available means of communication with S. Peter's.) The predecessor bridge to Ponte Sisto, the Pons Aurelius, was first mentioned by authors in the 4th and 5th centuries and

4635-752: The Ponte Sisto to the Campo Marzio . The bridge still carries the water of the Acqua Paola across the river in eight large pipes. On 20 August 1662, a brawl erupting between some Corsican soldiers controlling the bridge and Frenchmen belonging to the retinue of the French ambassador triggered the Corsican Guard Affair and had as effect the disbanding of the Corsican Guard , a corp of mercenaries originating from

4738-514: The Portuguese the rights to acquire slaves along the African Coast by force or trade. Those concessions were confirmed by Sixtus in his own bull, Aeterni regis , of 21 June 1481. Arguably the "ideology of conquest" expounded in those texts became the means by which commerce and conversion were facilitated. In November 1476, Isabel and Fernando ordered an investigation into rights of conquest in

4841-455: The Roman Empire, beginning the Peace of the Church . In 325, the First Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism , declaring trinitarianism dogmatic, and in its sixth canon recognized the special role of the Sees of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. Great defenders of Trinitarian faith included the popes, especially Liberius , who was exiled to Berea by Constantius II for his Trinitarian faith, Damasus I , and several other bishops. In 380,

4944-399: The Romans , and according to tradition Paul was martyred there. During the 1st century of the Church ( c.  30–130 ), the Roman capital became recognized as a Christian center of exceptional importance. The church there, at the end of the century, wrote an epistle to the Church in Corinth intervening in a major dispute, and apologizing for not having taken action earlier. There are

5047-560: The West to the bishop of Rome during the reign of Pope Leo I (440–461), a reservation made official only in the 11th century. The earliest record of the use of the title of 'pope' was in regard to the by-then-deceased patriarch of Alexandria , Heraclas (232–248). The earliest recorded use of the title "pope" in English dates to the mid-10th century, when it was used in reference to the 7th century Roman Pope Vitalian in an Old English translation of Bede 's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum . The Catholic Church teaches that

5150-458: The acknowledgement of the bishop of Rome as an influential figure within the Church, with some emphasizing the importance of adherence to Rome's teachings and decisions. Such references served to establish the concept of papal primacy and have continued to inform Catholic theology and practice. In his letters, Cyprian of Carthage ( c. 210 – 258 AD) recognized the bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter in his Letter 55 (c. 251 AD), which

5253-435: The authority of the church in Rome. In this work, Tertullian said that the Church in Rome has the authority of the Apostles because of its apostolic foundation. Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles themselves). How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! Where Peter endures

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5356-448: The bachelor's, master's, licentiate, and doctoral degrees. The archbishop of Uppsala was also named as the university's Chancellor , and was charged with maintaining the rights and privileges of the university and its members. This act of Sixtus IV had a profound long-term effect on the society and culture of Sweden, an effect which continues up to the present. Sixtus IV became ill on 8 August 1484; this illness worsened on 10 August while

5459-407: The beginning of the 7th century, Islamic conquests had succeeded in controlling much of the southern Mediterranean , and represented a threat to Christianity. In 1095, the Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos , asked for military aid from Pope Urban II in the ongoing Byzantine–Seljuq wars . Urban, at the council of Clermont , called the First Crusade to assist the Byzantine Empire to regain

5562-431: The collections of the Capitoline Museums . He also refounded, enriched and enlarged the Vatican Library . He had Regiomontanus attempt the first sanctioned reorganisation of the Julian calendar and increased the size and prestige of the papal chapel choir, bringing singers and some prominent composers ( Gaspar van Weerbeke , Marbrianus de Orto and Bertrandus Vaqueras ) to Rome from the north. In addition to being

5665-428: The consensus among scholars being that by the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters, whose duties of office overlapped or were indistinguishable from one another. Some say that there was probably "no single 'monarchical' bishop in Rome before the middle of the 2nd century ... and likely later." In the early Christian era, Rome and a few other cities had claims on

5768-424: The construction of the Sistine Chapel and the creation of the Vatican Library . A patron of the arts, he brought together the group of artists who ushered the early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpieces of the city's new artistic age. Sixtus founded the Spanish Inquisition through the bull Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus (1478), and he annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance . He

5871-433: The construction of the bridge. They recite: and On the corner of via dei Pettinari and via Giulia once stood a fountain (the Fontanone di Ponte Sisto or dei Cento Preti ), which relayed water from the great fountain called the Acqua Paola , derived originally from a Roman aqueduct brought back to working order by Pope Paul V (r. 1605–21): the water was brought from Lake Bracciano to Trastevere and from there over

5974-418: The controversial doctrinal basis of the pope's authority, continues to divide the eastern and western churches and to separate Protestants from Rome. The writings of several Early Church fathers contain references to the authority and unique position held by the bishops of Rome, providing valuable insight into the recognition and significance of the papacy during the early Christian era. These sources attest to

6077-409: The defence of human rights. Over time, the papacy accrued broad secular and political influence , eventually rivalling those of territorial rulers. In recent centuries, the temporal authority of the papacy has declined and the office is now largely focused on religious matters. By contrast, papal claims of spiritual authority have been increasingly firmly expressed over time, culminating in 1870 with

6180-469: The dogma of the Immaculate Conception , which had been confirmed at the Council of Basle in 1439, and he designated 8 December as its feastday. In 1476, he issued the apostolic constitution Cum Praeexcelsa , establishing a Mass and Office for the feast. He formally annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance in 1478. The two papal bulls issued by Pope Nicholas V , Dum Diversas of 1452 and Romanus Pontifex of 1455, had effectively given

6283-455: The episcopal see in Rome can be traced back no earlier than the 3rd century. The writings of Irenaeus , a Church Father who wrote around 180 AD, reflect a belief that Peter "founded and organized" the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peter's presence in the early Roman Church. The Church of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians (which is traditionally attributed to Clement of Rome c.  96 ) about

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6386-520: The established church. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the pope served as a source of authority and continuity. Pope Gregory I ( c.  540–604 ) administered the church with strict reform. From an ancient senatorial family, Gregory worked with the stern judgement and discipline typical of ancient Roman rule. Theologically, he represents the shift from the classical to the medieval outlook; his popular writings are full of dramatic miracles , potent relics , demons , angels , ghosts, and

6489-483: The fresco by Melozzo da Forlì , he is accompanied by his Della Rovere and Riario nephews, not all of whom were made cardinals; the protonotary apostolic Pietro Riario (on his right), the future Pope Julius II / Giuliano Della Rovere standing before him; and Girolamo Riario and Giovanni della Rovere , behind the kneeling Platina , author of the first humanist history of the popes. His nephew, Pietro Riario, possibly also benefited from his alleged nepotism. He

6592-425: The gates of hell shall not prevail against it! Matthew 16:18. The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these:— Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus... Eusebius ( c. 260/265 – 339) mentions Linus as Saint Peter's successor and Clement as the third bishop of Rome in his book Church History . As recorded by Eusebius, Clement worked with Saint Paul as his "co-laborer". As to

6695-405: The hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus ; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric.   ... To this Clement there succeeded Eviristus . Alexander followed Evaristus; then, sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telephorus , who

6798-429: The impression they left on his contemporaries as causal. Criticisms of Pietro 's meteoric rise were not constrained to the charge of benefiting from nepotism as Sixtus IV's nephew, nor to allegations of possibly having been Sixtus IV's illegitimate son. Indeed, Pietro and his brother Girolamo Riario were alleged to have been lovers of Sixtus IV in polemics against the latter. According to the later published chronicle of

6901-411: The increasingly assertive European nation states , the popes focused on spiritual issues. In 1870, the First Vatican Council proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility for the most solemn occasions when the pope speaks ex cathedra when issuing a definition of faith or morals. Later the same year, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy seized Rome from the pope's control and substantially completed

7004-417: The influence and power they already possessed. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , barbarian tribes were converted to Arian Christianity or Nicene Christianity; Clovis I , king of the Franks , was the first important barbarian ruler to convert to the mainstream church rather than Arianism, allying himself with the papacy. Other tribes, such as the Visigoths , later abandoned Arianism in favour of

7107-436: The island having police duties in Rome. After the Unification of Italy in 1870, the buildings surrounding the mostra dell'acqua paola were destroyed for the erection of the Lungotevere along the river side, and the fountain itself was relocated to Piazza Trilussa on the other side of the bridge, where it delivers water to this day. In 1877, two large cast-iron pedestrian gangways resting on marble consoles were added to

7210-405: The leadership of worldwide Church. James the Just , known as "the brother of the Lord", served as head of the Jerusalem church, which is still honoured as the "Mother Church" in Orthodox tradition. Alexandria had been a center of Jewish learning and became a center of Christian learning. Rome had a large congregation early in the apostolic period whom Paul the Apostle addressed in his Epistle to

7313-419: The long-established markets from the Campidoglio in 1477 and decreed in a bull of 1480 the widening of streets and the first post-Roman paving, the removal of porticoes and other post-classical impediments to free public passage. At the beginning of his papacy, in 1471, Sixtus had donated several historically important Roman sculptures that founded a papal collection of art, which would eventually develop into

7416-519: The most notable being Bonaventure (1482); he also beatified one person, John Buoni (1483). In 1477, Sixtus IV issued a papal bull authorizing the creation of Uppsala University – the first university in Sweden and in the whole of Scandinavia . The choice of this location for the university derived from the fact that the archbishopric of Uppsala had been one of the most important sees in Sweden proper since Christianity first spread to this region in

7519-575: The name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father: to those who are united, both according to the flesh and spirit, to every one of His commandments; Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 AD), in his Letter 53, wrote a list of 38 popes from Saint Peter to Siricius. The order of this list differs from the lists of Irenaeus and the Annuario Pontificio . Augustine's list claims that Linus was succeeded by Clement and Clement

7622-537: The ninth century, as well as Uppsala being long-standing hub for regional trade. Uppsala's bull, which granted the university its corporate rights, established a number of provisions. Among the most important of these was that the university was officially given the same freedoms and privileges as the University of Bologna . This included the right to establish the four traditional faculties of theology , law ( Canon Law and Roman law ), medicine, and philosophy, and to award

7725-503: The oak tree ("rovere" in Italian), symbol of Sixtus IV. The overall program of the panels, their beauty, complex symbolism, classical references and their relative arrangement are compelling and comprehensive illustrations of the Renaissance worldview. None of them actually states how he died. Sixtus created an unusually large number of cardinals during his pontificate (23) who were drawn from

7828-670: The old Christian territories, especially Jerusalem. With the East–West Schism , the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church split definitively in 1054. This fracture was caused more by political events than by slight divergences of creed . Popes had galled the Byzantine emperors by siding with the king of the Franks, crowning a rival Roman emperor, appropriating the Exarchate of Ravenna , and driving into Greek Italy. In

7931-400: The pastoral office, the office of shepherding the Church, that was held by the apostles, as a group or "college" with Saint Peter as their head, is now held by their successors, the bishops, with the bishop of Rome (the pope) as their head. Thus is derived another title by which the pope is known, that of "supreme pontiff". The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus personally appointed Peter as

8034-533: The persecution of Christians in Rome as the "struggles in our time" and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, "first, the greatest and most just columns", the "good apostles" Peter and Paul. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement; in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans, he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, such as Emperor Constantine's erection of

8137-440: The phrase of St. Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium. In AD 195, Pope Victor I, in what

8240-535: The pope as the antichrist . Popes instituted a Catholic Reformation (1560–1648), which addressed the challenges of the Protestant Reformation and instituted internal reforms. Pope Paul III initiated the Council of Trent (1545–1563), whose definitions of doctrine and whose reforms sealed the triumph of the papacy over elements in the church that sought conciliation with Protestants and opposed papal claims. Gradually forced to give up secular power to

8343-539: The pope was attending an event in Rome. He felt unwell that evening and was forced to cancel a meeting he was to hold with his cardinals the following morning. The Pope grew weaker during the night of 11 August and he was unable to sleep. Sixtus IV died the following evening – 12 August. The envoy of the Medici family summed up Sixtus' reign in the announcement to his master, "Today at 5 o'clock His Holiness Sixtus IV departed this life – may God forgive him!" Pope Sixtus's tomb

8446-399: The popes helped spread Christianity and intervened to find resolutions in various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages , they played a role of secular importance in Western Europe, often acting as arbitrators between Christian monarchs. In addition to the expansion of Christian faith and doctrine , modern popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue , charitable work , and

8549-412: The position of Fabian , that is to say, the position of Peter and the office of the bishop's chair, was vacant. But the position once has been filled by the will of God and that appointment has been ratified by the consent of us all, if anyone wants to be made bishop after that, it has to be done outside the church; if a man does not uphold the unity of the Church's unity, it is not possible for him to have

8652-531: The prestige of the papacy in Northern Europe. From the 7th century, it became common for European monarchies and nobility to found churches and perform investiture or deposition of clergy in their states and fiefdoms, their personal interests causing corruption among the clergy. This practice had become common because often the prelates and secular rulers were also participants in public life. To combat this and other practices that had been seen as corrupting

8755-414: The proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility for rare occasions when the pope speaks ex cathedra —literally "from the chair (of Saint Peter) "—to issue a formal definition of faith or morals. The pope is considered one of the world's most powerful people due to the extensive diplomatic, cultural, and spiritual influence of his position on both 1.3   billion Catholics and those outside

8858-540: The rest of his followers, Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul; but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second Epistle to Timothy as his companion at Rome, was Peter’s successor in the episcopate of the church there, as has already been shown. Clement also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at Rome, was, as Paul testifies, his co-laborer and fellow-soldier. Tertullian ( c. 155 – c. 220 AD) wrote in his work " The Prescription Against Heretics " about

8961-518: The river, where many young Romans and tourists gather for an aperitivo on a Friday night. [REDACTED] Media related to Ponte Sisto (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV , Italian : Sisto IV ; born Francesco della Rovere ; 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death. His accomplishments as pope included

9064-656: The roster of the princely houses of Italy, France and Spain, thus ensuring that many of his policies continued after his death: Pope Sixtus is portrayed by Raoul Bova in the second season, and John Lynch in the third season of the TV series Medici: Masters of Florence . Pope Sixtus is also portrayed by James Faulkner in all three seasons of the Starz TV series Da Vinci's Demons . Pope The pope ( Latin : papa , from Ancient Greek : πάππας , romanized :  páppas , lit.   'father')

9167-456: The saints and by Christ, so that he could grant indulgences , reducing one's time in purgatory . The concept that a monetary fine or donation accompanied contrition, confession, and prayer eventually gave way to the common assumption that indulgences depended on a simple monetary contribution. The popes condemned misunderstandings and abuses, but were too pressed for income to exercise effective control over indulgences. Popes also contended with

9270-463: The sides of the bridge. After considerable controversies, Rome's mayor Francesco Rutelli let them be demolished in 2000, restoring Ponte Sisto's pristine silhouette, and since then traffic on the bridge has been restricted to pedestrians. The Ponte Sisto connects the lively and popular Campo de' Fiori area (reached through via dei Pettinari) and via Giulia with Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere across

9373-413: The visible head of the Church, and the Catholic Church's dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium makes a clear distinction between apostles and bishops, presenting the latter as the successors of the former, with the pope as successor of Peter, in that he is head of the bishops as Peter was head of the apostles. Some historians argue against the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, noting that

9476-452: The will of Him that wills all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, which also presides in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father, which I also salute in

9579-501: Was destroyed in the Sack of Rome in 1527 . Today, his remains, along with the remains of his nephew Pope Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere), are interred in St. Peter's Basilica, in the floor in front of the monument to Pope Clement X. A marble tombstone marks the site. His bronze funerary monument, now in the basement Treasury of St. Peter's Basilica , made like a giant casket of goldsmith's work,

9682-426: Was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus ; after him, Pius ; then after him, Anicetus . Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now, in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the episcopate. Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 108/140 AD) wrote in his " Epistle to the Romans" that the church in Rome is "the church that presides over love". ...the Church which is beloved and enlightened by

9785-577: Was later known in the Middle Ages as "Pons Antoninus," "Pons Antonini in Arenula," and "Pons Ianicularis id est pons ruptus vulgariter nominatus et Tremelus et Antoninus." The Pons Antoninus was partially destroyed in 772, at the time the Lombard king Desiderius took Rome, and rebuilt in its current form by Pope Sixtus IV, whose name it carries to this day. The bridge is architecturally characteristic because of

9888-631: Was noted for his nepotism and was personally involved in the infamous Pazzi conspiracy , a plot to remove the Medici family from power in Florence . Francesco was a member of Della Rovere family, a son of Leonardo della Rovere and Luchina Monleoni. He was born in Celle Ligure , a town near Savona . As a young man, Della Rovere joined the Franciscan Order , an unlikely choice for a political career, and his intellectual qualities were revealed while he

9991-503: Was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. Optatus the bishop of Milevis in Numidia (today's Algeria) and a contemporary of the Donatist schism , presents a detailed analysis of the origins, beliefs, and practices of the Donatists, as well as the events and debates surrounding the schism, in his book The Schism of

10094-556: Was renowned for his unworldliness and had written learned treatises, including On the Blood of Christ and On the Power of God . His reputation for piety was one of the deciding factors that prompted the College of Cardinals to elect him Pope upon the unexpected death of Paul II at the age of fifty-four. Upon being elected Pope , Della Rovere adopted the name Sixtus, which had not been used since

10197-573: Was studying philosophy and theology at the University of Pavia . He went on to lecture at Padua and many other Italian universities. In 1464, Della Rovere was elected Minister General of the Franciscan order at the age of 50. In 1467, he was appointed Cardinal by Pope Paul II with the titular church being the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli . Before his papal election, Cardinal della Rovere

10300-458: Was succeeded by Anacletus as in the list of Eusebius , while the other two lists switch the positions of Clement and Anacletus. For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: Upon this rock will I build my Church, and

10403-680: Was successively promoted to be a cardinal, the bishop of Florence, the Patriarch of Constantinople and given some 45 additional benefices . Pietro became one of the richest men in Rome and was entrusted with Pope Sixtus IV's foreign policy, in addition to being given an unofficial post as the de facto ruler of Rome. He reportedly spent 200,000 gold ducats on foodstuffs and festivities during two years in office. Pietro died prematurely in 1474. Chroniclers of his life seem to regard his death as unnatural and thus connect his alleged grandiose spending habits and

10506-495: Was that access to corpses which allowed the anatomist Vesalius , along with Titian 's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar , to complete the revolutionary medical/anatomical text De humani corporis fabrica . The Pope created 34 cardinals in eight consistories held during his reign, among them three nephews, one grandnephew and one other relative, thus continuing the practice of nepotism that he and his successors would engage in during this period. Sixtus IV named seven new saints, with

10609-672: Was unhappy with the excesses of the Inquisition and condemned the most flagrant abuses in 1482. As a temporal prince who constructed stout fortresses in the Papal States , he encouraged the Venetians to attack Ferrara , which he wished to obtain for another nephew. Ercole I d'Este , Duke of Ferrara , was allied with the Sforzas of Milan , the Medicis of Florence along with the King of Naples , normally

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