The Cambridge History of the Papacy is organized to provide readers with a critical–historical survey of the structural development of the papacy as an institution and as an actor in Church history, and in world history. It is hard to imagine a sphere of human activity over the past two millennia that has not been influenced by, and influenced in turn by, papal action – be it in the domains of religious belief and practice; social, cultural, and political thought; art, science, medicine, ethics, diplomacy, and international relations. Four questions – each addressed throughout the three volumes of the present work – have framed that vision across vast chronological and geographical expanses: the pope’s centrality within the Catholic Church, the primacy of papal power as an instrument of governance, the papacy’s cultural influence in society and culture, and the implications of secularity for its place in the lives of believers and non-believers alike. Each question – and the search for answers – converges around the fundamental question of papal authority: its original claims; the ebbs and flows of its effective reach; and the numerous ways in which claims, and expressions of papal authority and supremacy, have been contested within the Catholic tradition, and from without.

This chapter examines the papacy’s positioning vis-à-vis colonization and decolonization, defined both as a political changeover from European to African governance and as a longer, subtler, and more complex process of rejecting European influence and authority in both the public and private spheres, including religion. It investigates Vatican approaches to Catholic missions in Africa during the colonial period, how successive popes navigated the political changes of decolonization, and how they sought to make Catholicism more hospitable to Africans. Finally, it underlines how Africans themselves, such as the prominent intellectual Alioune Diop, played a central role in instigating papal action to make the Church less Eurocentric and more welcoming to other peoples and cultures.

We associate “crusaders” with the medieval world and those who took part in military campaigns during the period 1095–1291, the “golden age of crusading.” This chapter examines why groups of men and women throughout history have been described as “crusaders.” For many historians, “crusaders” are not just those who fought against Muslims, but those who took part in papally inspired campaigns in various theatres-of-war against diverse enemies, for which they took vows and enjoyed special privileges. We further use the word “crusader” to describe those whom popes encouraged to take part in military ventures, for example against the Ottomans, over a much wider chronological period – from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries. In modern times, crusade rhetoric has also been a key feature of both Western and Eastern religious and political discourse. Hence the chapter explores how our idea of “crusaders” has developed since the original use of the word.

The pontificate of Leo XIII (r. 1878–1903) was decisive in shaping the Catholic response to modernity. His primary aim was to guide the Church in coming to terms with the modern world by making a clear distinction between unchangeable truths and other teachings that could be legitimately adapted to fit the scientific, democratic, and industrial world. The centerpiece of Leo’s approach was a Thomistic revival that included several elements: (1) Thomas’ view of the universe as an ordered hierarchy of being, governed by law; (2) Thomas’ view of natural law combined with Suarez’s “transfer theory of power” that permits a variety of legitimate regimes; (3) Thomas’ teaching on private property in service to the common good combined with Locke’s natural rights to property; and (4) a notion of the rights of workers as persons that points toward twentieth-century Christian personalism. I conclude by surveying the scholarly debates about Leo’s contribution to modern Thomism and Catholic social teaching.

During the eighth and ninth centuries the papacy extricated itself from the Byzantine world and allied with the Franks. The alliance secured protection from the Lombards and aided the formation of the first independent Papal State in Italy. Secular and ecclesiastical institutional structures inherited from late antiquity matured and created a recognizable medieval papacy. The popes supported the expansion of Latin Christianity in Scandinavia and eastern Europe. Peace brought prosperity to Italy and the popes both built and restored numerous churches and installed frescoes, mosaics, and liturgical fixtures all over Rome. Nicholas I, Adrian II, and John VIII made powerful ecclesiological statements that hinted at future claims. Toward the end of the period aristocratic strife in Rome foreshadowed the tumultuous tenth century.

Popes’ relationship with modern media can be assumed as a prism through which the cultural, social, and political transformations of the twentieth-century papacy can be observed. Cinema, radio, and television were means through which the voice and the image of the popes were almost known simultaneously for the first time in history throughout the world. Internet and social media were exploited by the Holy See adapting the apostolate to the new way of communicating. Each pope’s choice to use new media reflected how they conceived the role of the papacy and more generally the Church. In other words, the adoption of the new media and therefore the way through which the papacy decided to communicate to its flock had ecclesiological, theological, and of course political reflections. The chapter provides an overview of the relationship between the popes and the means of mass communication from Pius XI to Francis I. It shows that even when the popes were imbued with an anti-modern culture, they grasped the opportunity to fulfill their task of Catholic propaganda instead of demonizing the new inventions.

The relations between medieval and early modern Jews and the popes rested on consistently applied canonical and Roman law principles, alongside Pauline theology, which was itself bifurcated. These principles were fundamentally restrictive, and the restrictions became tighter over time. To speak of a mild early Middle Ages, driven by Augustinian principles, which turned radically hostile after the First Crusade, is a distortion. Nobody mentioned Augustine until Innocent III. There were forced conversions even in the early Middle Ages. Similarly, the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 was not a turning point, but a culmination. Subsequent attacks on literature were new, but not papally initiated. Beginning with Benedict XIII in 1415, a move to press conversion – without ignoring old limits, theoretically – began to grow, which culminated in Paul IV’s foundation of the Roman ghetto in 1555, intended be a cauldron of conversion achieved through repression. The policy failed.

This chapter focuses on the evolution of papal finances during the sixteenth century, a period of radical change, which was characterized by seminal moments such as the creation of the Monte della Fede (public debt) in 1526, the imposition of the Triennial Subsidy (an attempt to charge a universal direct tax) of 1543, and others. It also looks at the consequences that these changes brought about in the seventeenth century. After a brief literature review, the transition between the medieval and the early modern period is also explained, followed by an analysis of the public debt and venal offices. The chapter then discusses the relations between central and peripheral powers and ends with an overview of the role played by merchant bankers.

The modern world has as its central characteristic the claim of man’s emancipation from submission to ecclesiastical authority. Born with the Enlightenment, this claim extended from the cultural level to many areas of social life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This process has found significant expressions in movements such as liberalism, socialism, and nationalism, which have marked the history of that period. It is commonly believed that only the Second Vatican Council has produced a turning point: the recognition of the “iusta autonomia” of earthly realities has led the Church from confrontation to dialogue with modernity. The historical judgment must be more nuanced. From the Enlightenment onwards, the papacy has sought to safeguard the submission of men to ecclesiastical authority, but it has also endeavored to adapt Catholicism to the needs of modern men for autonomy in order to be able to better communicate its message of salvation to them.

After the First Vatican Council, some believed that a council was not necessary any more: the Pope alone was able to govern the Catholic Church. John XXIII’s decision to convene a council was surprising in this context. Considered by some as an extension of Vatican I, which originally was to produce a whole teaching on the Church in which the pope was to be situated, the Second Vatican Council teaching situates the pope in the people of God and within the College of Bishops, proclaiming the doctrine of collegiality. The two popes of the council were going to modify the figure and the style of the papacy. John XXIII, by developing fraternal ties with the non-Catholic Christians invited to the council and who came in large numbers; Paul VI gave worldwide influence to the papacy through his travels to Jerusalem, India, and to the United Nations headquarters in New York, establishing relationships with non-Christians.

This chapter examines the governance of the papacy prior to and following the Risorgimento, focusing on administrative reform, military affairs, and finances. It analyzes the domestic and foreign aspects of papal rule. Domestically, the papacy implemented administrative changes and faced opposition from local groups advocating for reform. This unrest led to increased reliance on foreign assistance, including military support from Austria and France. Financial burdens compelled the papacy to seek foreign loans from the Rothschilds, creating an unhealthy reliance on foreign means and powers. Ultimately, the papacy was unable to withstand a united opposition that resulted from these policies. The analysis highlights the tension between the Church and temporal government, influenced by religion and nationality. Local control and freedom from foreign interference emerged as key factors in advocating for change.

During the sixteenth century, the King in Parliament terminated the jurisdiction of the Papacy in England and established by law the Church of England, with the King as its head. One task was to institute a new system of canon law for the national Church. Parliamentary statute provided for a commission to reform the canon law. In the meantime, pre-Reformation Roman canon law was to continue to apply to the Church of England if it was not repugnant to the royal prerogative and the laws of the realm. The commission was never appointed. The Roman canon law continued to apply on the basis of both statute and custom as part of the King’s ecclesiastical law. This chapter explores how the post-Reformation English ecclesiastical lawyers understood this continuing Roman canon law, its legal basis, and the role of the doctrine of reception in all this.

The vestments and regalia worn by the pope have long been used to convey the role’s primacy and singularity in the Catholic Church as both temporal and spiritual sovereign. This chapter describes the evolution of papal garb, alongside their visual and textual representations, from the twelfth century to the present day. It also maps the changing sites of the reception of the pope’s appearance over eight centuries, considering how the papacy has mobilized clothing to convey meaning in different pastoral, political, and media contexts. Clothing and regalia have been used strategically and deliberately, at various times, to represent the pope’s spiritual humility, his wealth and prestige, his status as international diplomat, and his sovereignty.

The papacy played a central role in the development of Roman Catholic teaching about bioethics. Pope Pius XI’s Casti connubii (1930) condemned contraception, sterilization, and abortion. Papal teaching was broadly accepted by Catholics before the 1960s. Widespread dissent in the Church greatly increased after the publication of Pope Paul VI’s Humanae vitae (1968). The first successful IVF procedure in 1978 raised new bioethical issues relating to the status of human embryos outside the womb.

The Catholic hierarchy was more successful in lobbying politicians to enact restrictive laws, or obstruct liberal reforms, than in persuading the laity to accept its teaching on birth control and assisted human reproduction. A rift emerged between mainstream Catholic culture and the institutional Church. The Church is now circumscribed in meeting the challenges presented by complex ethical issues, such as surrogacy and assisted dying, because of the papacy’s inflexible stance on these matters.