fwo_837087 - PAPAL STATES - INNOCENT III Bulle papale n.d. Rome

PAPAL STATES - INNOCENT III

(1198-1212)

Giovanni Lotario of the family of the counts of Segni was elected pope on January 8, 1198 under the name of Innocent III. He is considered one of the greatest popes of the Middle Ages. A theologian and man of action, he sought to exalt the power of the Holy See as much as possible in order to strengthen its authority. With this in mind, from 1199, he developed the fight against heresies, which he entrusted in 1213 to the Inquisition. One of his major works was to support Dominic de Guzmán as well as Saint Francis of Assisi and his mendicant brothers and to validate their first rule. This pope was also the Fourth Lateran Council, which ruled among other things on dogma, the sacraments, the reform of the Church, the conduct of priests and the faithful, the crusade. It was under his pontificate that the fourth crusade took place, called by his predecessor Celestine III. It ended with the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders..