Editing Reformation (section)

====Papacy====

[[File:Richental Konzilssitzung Muenster.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|alt=A pope and about a dozen bishops sitting in a large room.|Meeting of cardinals, bishops and theologians with [[Antipope John XXIII]] ({{reign|1410|1415}}) at the [[Council of Constance]] (from the ''Chronicle of the Council of Constance'' by [[Ulrich of Richenthal]])]]

The authority of the papacy was based on a well-organised system of communication and bureaucracy.{{sfn|Wickham|2016|pp=148–149}} The popes claimed the power of [[binding and loosing]] that Christ [[Matthew 16:19|had reportedly]] granted to [[Peter the Apostle]] (d. {{circa}} 66), and offered [[indulgence]]—the reduction of the penalty in both this world ([[penance]]) and in [[Purgatory]] to contrite and pardoned sinners who e.g. gave alms or went on pilgrimages.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=107–108}} The popes also granted [[Dispensation (Catholic canon law)|dispensations]] to institutions or individuals, exempting them from certain provisions of [[canon law]] (or ecclesiastic law).{{refn|group=note|For instance, religious orders were regularly exempted of the authority of the bishops, or elderly laypeople could be released of the obligation of [[Fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church|fasting]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}}}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}} 

From 1309 to 1417, the papacy was in turmoil: various election controversies resulted in the [[Western Schism]] (1378-1417) leading to, at the end, three rival claimant Popes. At the [[Council of Constance]], one of the three popes resigned, his two rivals were deposed, and the newly elected [[Pope Martin V|Martin V]] ({{reign|1417|1431}}) was acknowledged as the legitimate pope throughout Catholic Europe.{{sfn|Wickham|2016|p=213}} The relative authority of [[Conciliarism|popes and ecumenical councils]] was in contest.

The [[Renaissance]] popes were also secular rulers: as princes of the [[Papal States]] in Italy, the popes were deeply involved in the power struggles of the peninsula, and the Italian [[List_of_noble_houses#Italy_and_the_Papal_States|noble houses]] vied for election. These popes frequently caused scandal: [[Pope Alexander VI]] ({{reign|1492|1503}}) appointed [[House of Borgia|his relatives]], among them his own [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimate]] sons to high offices; [[Pope Julius II]] ({{reign|1503|1513}}) took up arms to recover papal territories lost during his predecessors' reign,{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=40–41}} prompting the underground satire ''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven]]''.

In the early [[Age of Exploration]], a succession of popes ([[Nicholas V]], [[Sixtus IV]], {{nowrap|Alexander VI}}) successfully arbitrated territorial disputes between Spain and Portugal outside Europe, notably with the [[papal bull]] [[Inter caetera|Inter caetera]] (1493) drawing a line through South America to separate their trade and colonial regions.{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=14–15}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=64–65}} The Spanish and Portuguese conquests and developing trade networks contributed to the global expansion of Catholicism.{{refn|group=note|The baptism of [[Nzinga a Nkuwu]], [[Kingdom of Kongo|King of Kongo]] ({{reign|1470|1509}}) in 1491 is the earliest example. By the end of the rule of his son [[Afonso I of Kongo|Alfonso I]] ({{reign|1509|1543}}), about {{nowrap|2 million}} people received baptism in Kongo.{{sfn|Ditchfield|2022|p=198}}}}{{sfn|Ditchfield|2022|p=198}} 

The popes were generous patrons of art and architecture. {{nobr|Julius II}} ordered the demolition of the ruined [[Old St. Peter's Basilica|4th-century St. Peter's Basilica]] in preparation for the building of a [[St. Peter's Basilica|new Renaissance basilica]], creating a financial problem.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|p=9}}