Editing Pope Innocent III (section)

===Fourth Council of the Lateran===
[[File:Giuseppe lucchetti, tomba di innocenzo III, 1861.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Pope Innocent III at Saint John Lateran basilica]]
On 15 November 1215, Pope Innocent III convened the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran|Fourth Lateran Council]] which was considered to be the most important Church council of the [[Middle Ages]]. By its conclusion, it issued seventy reformatory decrees. Among other things, it encouraged creating schools and holding clergy to a higher standard than the laity. Canon 18 forbade clergymen to participate in the practice of the [[Trial by ordeal|judicial ordeal]], effectively banning its use.<ref name=Pennington>{{Cite web |url=http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Fourth%20Lateran%20Council/PenningtonLateranIV.pdf |title=Pennington, Kenneth. "The Fourth Lateran Council, its Legislation, and the Development of Legal Procedure", CUA |access-date=17 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308012241/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Fourth%20Lateran%20Council/PenningtonLateranIV.pdf |archive-date=8 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In order to define fundamental doctrines, the council reviewed the nature of the [[Holy Eucharist]], the ordered annual confession of sins, and prescribed detailed procedures for the election of bishops. The council also mandated a strict lifestyle for clergy. Canon 68 states: Jews and Muslims shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians so that no Christian shall come to marry them ignorant of who they are.<ref name="je">{{Cite web|title=Church Councils – JewishEncyclopedia.com|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4379-church-councils|access-date=26 July 2020|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> Canon 69 forbade "that Jews be given preferment in public office since this offers them the pretext to vent their wrath against the Christians."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.html |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV 1215 |publisher=Fordham.edu |access-date=17 February 2010}}</ref> It assumes that Jews blaspheme Christ, and therefore, as it would be "too absurd for a blasphemer of Christ to exercise power over Christians",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/lateran4.htm#67|title=Lateran 4 – 1215|access-date=30 August 2014|archive-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820183422/http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/lateran4.htm#67|url-status=dead}}</ref> Jews should not be appointed to public offices.