2 ms·
When wasn’t it? During the Avignon captivity it was at least as powerful as now. Between Italian unification and the Lateran Pact it had diplomats with the cust
by barry-cotter 7y ago
When wasn’t it? During the Avignon captivity it was at least as powerful as now. Between Italian unification and the Lateran Pact it had diplomats with the customary immunity, embassies and ability to make treaties. The Holy See has had rival claimants since 1,000 but the current pontiff derives in a direct line from that of 1,000 AD just as the current British government has a rock solid claim to continuity since the Glorious Revolution.
- dragonwriter 7y ago> When wasn’t it? Well, it didn't even become a “state level organization” until the temporal dominions of the papacy became separate from the Holy Roman Empire in 1177, so even if you ignore both times the papal states were disestablished, it doesn't reach 1000 years. > The Holy See has had rival claimants since 1,000 but the current pontiff derives in a direct line from that of 1,000 AD Only in the sense that a convention later grew of describing a particular line through the period of two and then three competing lines of popes that were ended with a common replacement as “the” line of popes, but that's an after-the-fact rationalization, not actual continuity.