A History of the Popes: Volume II: Middle Ages to the Protestant Reform by Wyatt North

Author:Wyatt North [North, Wyatt]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Wyatt North Publishing, LLC
Published: 2015-09-25T06:00:00+00:00

Innocent IV, a brilliant canon lawyer, succeeded Celestine IV on June 28, 1243. A man with a utilitarian outlook, Innocent was nepotistic and helped himself to the church’s funds. He also has the unenviable distinction of being the first pope who approved the use of torture to extract confessions from people accused of heresy. Knowing that the situation with Frederick II was precarious, Innocent fled Rome and sought refuge under the aegis of King Louis IX of France. In 1245, Innocent held the First Council of Lyon. For Innocent, the Council needed to address the following five issues, which he called the five “wounds” of the Church: “the sins of the clergy, the loss of Jerusalem to Islam (since 1244), the troubles of the Latin kingdom of Constantinople, the Mongol invasion of Europe, and the persecution of the Church by Frederick” (Duffy, 116). The council promptly excommunicated and deposed Frederick for perjury, heresy, and a number of other crimes. Frederick’s excommunication was renewed by Innocent in 1248. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, Innocent felt more at ease and went back to Rome in 1251. There was one more conflict that Innocent faced before he died, and that was his conflict with Conrad IV, Frederick II’s son, over Sicily. The pope wanted Sicily as papal land, but Conrad would not let him acquire it. After Conrad died in 1254, Innocent annexed Sicily. He died in Naples on December 7, 1254.

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