Do you think popes should've have supreme authority in the MIddle Ages.?

Question

if you had paid attention to history class in middle school, you would know about the great schism of 1054. basically, the roman empire had an argument. the western half considered the pope the head of the church. the east disagreed.

in 1049, leo IX became pope. he argued that becuase the first pope, saint peter, had been the leader of the entire christian church, later popes should as well. however, many opposed him, particularly the byzantine (eastern) patriarch, michael cerularius. as a result, leo excommunicated him.

that decision created a permanent split within the church. christians who agreed with the byzantine bishop formed the greek orthodox church. those who sided with leo fromed the roman catholic church.

well, now that i've covered the background, give me an answer... no, i did not copy and paste this, i spent a long time grueling over the keyboard. no, this is not for homework, i finished the question already. i just want you to give me a well-supported answer!

Answer 1

Good work. I personally believe that the Church in general and the popes in particular have had too much power. The Crusades, spring to mind. And the reason that Brazil speaks Portugese and the rest of South America speaks Spanish is because a pope arbitrarily divided the whole contenant with a stroke of his pen. So I think we can agree that making any human Infallable is probably a mistake.

Answer 2

Popes did have supreme religious authority in Western Europe. It caused many problems including Inquisition, and Crusades. Killing for Jesus....What a joke. Anyways I dont enjoy criticising the church but some of the worst things in the history of the world have been comited in the name of JC. Remember, Absolute authority will corrupt absolutly.