COURT OF AGES: BONIFACE VIII, THE BULL UNAM SANCTAM (1302)

 

 Boniface VIII, The Bull UNAM SANCTAM, 1302


POPE BONIFACE VIII (r.1294-1303) believed that all authority derived from GOD, and that the POPE, as the VICAR (Or Lieutenant) Of Christ, was the HIGHEST Embodiment OF HIS WILL on EARTH.
 

As such, he believed that PAPAL Authority was superior to that of secular rulers, who Boniface argued derived their right to RULE FROM GOD and therefore from the POPE, to whom every HUMAN Being should be subject as to CARETAKER of their SOULS and the Assurance of their SALVATION.

His belief in PAPAL SUPREMACY BROUGHT HIM INTO FREQUENT CONFLICT with secular rulers and divided EUROPE into factions that either supported papal supremacy or favored the separation of church and state. The most important clash pitted Boniface against the Centralizing MONARCH, Philip IV the FAIR of FRANCE 1285-1314), in a struggle for control of the CHURCH'S REVENUES and for authority over the clergy in FRANCE. To build support for his resistance to the papacy, in APRIL 1302 Philip
convoked a precursor of the Estates General by inviting representatives of the clergy, the nobility,
and the wealthiest towns to PARIS. 

The Body expressed support for their KING. In November, Boniface
issued his BULL, SANCTUM, in which he declared and Justified the Superiority of PAPAL AUTHORITY to that of the KING, in part with reference to the theory of the TWO SWORDS.