About the history of the Roman Catholic Church - pt 5 - The Medieval Church

During the 11th through 14th centuries, Church control was united and centralized in Rome. This brought both power and problems to the Church.

A united community of faith, during this period

• Universities were established to provide education and spread the faith
• New religious orders were founded by St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic and many others
• Crusades attempted to free the Holy Land from non-Christian rule
• The great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas lived and wrote

Church reform

• In the 11th century, Pope Gregory VII ended lay investiture and increased papal power
• Church councils carefully considered questions of doctrine and church administration. Pope Innocent III and the Fourth Lateran Council discussed reforms that affected the entire Church, in the 12th and 13th centuries
• The Inquisition, a papal judicial institution set up in the 13th century, dealth severly with heresy

Political struggles

• Popes of this era engaged in conflicts with the rulers of England, Germany, France and other countries
• In 1308, Pope Clement V moved the capital of Christendom to Avignon, France, where it remained until 1376
• This was a period of unrest and division for the whole Church

St. Francis of Assisi                                              St. Thomas Aquinas