Unam Sanctam is a pontifical bubble of Boniface VIII on the Unité of the Church given the November 18th 1302. This bubble was launched at the time of a council of French prelates at this meeting in Rome. She proclaimed the supremacy of the Church on the State, and (of this fact) the obligation for any human creature to subject to the sovereign pontiff.

The authenticity of the bubble, on which objections were formulated, is remained out of doubt.

History

The bubble was written at the time of a hard conflict between the pope Boniface VIII and Philippe Beautiful the, which wanted émanciper supervision of the Church under the control surface of the pope. It makes following the bubble Ausculta fili and with the French reaction which made him continuation. Boniface VIII also wrote a bubble of excommunication, Super $petri Solio , but it was never published.

Philippe the Beautiful one reacts to this bubble in a rather radical way: it sending a commando to seize the pope with Anagni, to make itself some main. The pope was stopped in 1303 by Guillaume de Nogaret, new adviser of the king, according to the orders of Philippe, who wanted to bring it in France and to make it judge by a council. In front of his arrest, the pope covered his Tiare, took in hand his stick and the keys, while saying: “ I am pope, I will die pope ”. Boniface is delivered by the local population, but does not resist the shock. He dies one month later in Rome on October 11th, 1303.

Philippe will retain the lesson, and in 1305 (after the short reign of Benoît XI), it makes elect a French pope with his devotion, Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, which will reign under the name of Clément V: it will be the first pope of Avignon.

Doctrines

The bubble reaffirms the need for belonging to the body of Christ to obtain safety eternal (cf Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus). This document quotes the Arche of Noah and the Tunique of Christ in examples. She criticizes those which adhered to the Greek Schisme by quoting the word of Christ with Pierre: Peace my ewes .

Moreover, she declares that the temporal power is exerted in relation to the spiritual power by mentioning the medieval theory of the two swords : these two swords are those of Christ, but only the spiritual sword can control the temporal sword:

the words of the Gospel teach it to us: this power comprises two swords both are with the capacity of the Church, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword. But this one must be handled for the Church, that one by the Church. The sword must thus be subordinate to the sword, and the temporal authority with the spiritual authority.

And since the pope is defined like the vicar of Christ, the bubble writes that it is necessary of him to be subjected:

Consequently, we declare, say, define and pronounce that it is absoluement necessary to the hello, for any human creature, to be submitted to the Roman pontiff.

The principal proposals are drawn from the writings of Thomas d' Aquin, Hugues of Saint-Victor and the letters of Innocent III. The text was built-in inside the Corpus juris canonici. Its drafting was influenced by theologists like Aegidius Colonna and Gilles of Rome.

Importance

The drafting of the bubble gives him the value of a apostolic Constitution. Without introducing anything radically again out of doctrinal matter, it is presented as a talk of the principles which regulate the relationship between the spiritual power of the Church and the temporal powers.

Its notoriety comes from its general nature, the width of its considering, and its solemn conclusion, according to the official clausula of the dogmatic statements:

It is of need for hello for believing that any human creature is submitted to the Roman pontiff: we declare it, let us state it and let us define it.

Through this formula it is in practice the Christian vision of the world which is defined: any human, personal or collective reality, enters the process of sanctification. By this fact even, it concerns the authority of the Church. No field can be put aside; the autonomy of terrestrial realities, in particular of the political order, is radically denied.

This bubble is often referred to in the discussions on the authority of the Church and the apostolic seat. It moreover appeared in the theological references of the declaration Dominus Iesus.

References and bonds

• List of the pontifical bubbles
• : wikisource: : Unam sanctam
• Article Unam Sanctam on Catholic encyclopedia .

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