World civilization - Coursework Example

of the History of the Teacher 2 August Pope Innocent III It is a fact that Pope Innocent III happened to be one of the most dominant ecclesiastical and political powers of his times. During his Papacy, he resorted to an array of measures aimed at strengthening the Catholic Church. Innocent III was the first Pope who took steps to do away with the gap existent between the state and the Church (Moore 35). He went on to consolidate his hold over the political affairs of the varied European principalities like England and France to accrue much temporal authority to the Catholic Church.

Pope Innocent III evinced a tremendous zeal in supporting the crusades aimed at recovering the Holy Land and thereby succeeded in bringing in a measure of political unity in Christendom under the aegis of the Catholic Church (Moore 24). As a Pope he was very tough on the pagans and heretics and took a series of measures aimed at annihilating all sorts of heresies and paganism existent in Europe (Moore 24). This further strengthened the domain of the Church over Europe and made the leading European monarchies pledge subservience to the Pope and hence to the Catholic Church.

He centralized the Church’s administration and extended sanctions to the varied Catholic mendicant orders with the sole objective of doing away with the rot and corruption existent in the Catholic Church. One of his biggest achievements was the usage of the Fourth Lateran Council to consolidate the Church’s hold over the ecclesiastical and political proceedings in Europe (Moore 242). While strengthening the Catholic Church’s hold over Europe, he astutely managed to mitigate all sorts of internal and external opposition.

Works CitedMoore, John C. Pope Innocent III. Boston: Brill, 2006. Print.