Catholic Church

===Middle Ages and Renaissance===
{{Further|History of Christianity during the Middle Ages|Christianity in the 16th century#Renaissance Church}}
[[File:Chartres Cath+Gare.JPG|thumb|[[Chartres Cathedral]] in [[Chartres]], France, completed in 1220]]
[[File:Lightmatter Sistine Chapel ceiling.jpg|thumb|The [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]], painted by [[Michelangelo]]; the [[Renaissance]] period of the 15th and 16th centuries was a golden age for [[Catholic art]].]] 
The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilization from [[Late Antiquity]] to the dawn of the modern age.<ref name="O'CollinsPref"/> It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music.<ref>Woods, pp. 115–27</ref> Renaissance figures such as [[Raphael]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Botticelli]], [[Fra Angelico]], [[Tintoretto]], [[Titian]], [[Bernini]] and [[Caravaggio]] are examples of the numerous visual artists sponsored by the church.<ref>Duffy, p. 133.</ref> Historian Paul Legutko of [[Stanford University]] said the Catholic Church is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call [[Western civilization]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Review of ''How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilisation''|first=Thomas Jr.|last=Woods|url=http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=c6664|work=National Review Book Service|access-date=16 September 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822150152/http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6664|archive-date=22 August 2006}}</ref>

In Western [[Christendom]], the [[Medieval university|first universities in Europe]] were established by monks.<ref>{{cite book|title=Managing the University Campus: Information to Support Real Estate Decisions|first=Alexandra |last= Den Heijer| isbn=9789059724877| year =2011|publisher=Academische Uitgeverij Eburon| quote= Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Christian Education|first=Mark|last= A. Lamport |year= 2015| page =484|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield| isbn=9780810884939|quote= All the great European universities-Oxford, to Paris, to Cologne, to Prague, to Bologna—were established with close ties to the Church.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Developing World|first=Thomas |last=B M. Leonard|year= 2013| isbn=9781135205157| page = 1369|publisher=Routledge|quote= Europe established schools in association with their cathedrals to educate priests, and from these emerged eventually the first universities of Europe, which began forming in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.}}</ref> Beginning in the 11th century, several older cathedral schools [[Medieval university|became universities]], such as the [[University of Oxford]], [[University of Paris]], and [[University of Bologna]]. Higher education before then had been the domain of Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools, led by [[monk]]s and [[nun]]s. Evidence of such schools dates back to the 6th century&nbsp;CE.<ref name="auto">Riché, Pierre (1978): "Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century", Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, {{ISBN|0-87249-376-8}}, pp.&nbsp;126–127, 282–298</ref> These new universities expanded the curriculum to include academic programs for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians.<ref>Rudy, ''The Universities of Europe, 1100–1914'', p. 40</ref> The university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the [[History of Christianity|Medieval Christian]] setting.<ref name=verger1999>{{cite book |last=Verger |first=Jacques |date=1999 |author-link=:fr:Jacques Verger |title=Culture, enseignement et société en Occident aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles |edition=1st |language=fr |publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes in Rennes |isbn=978-2-86847-344-8 |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL822497W |access-date=17 June 2014 |archive-date=13 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313042832/https://openlibrary.org/works/OL822497W/Culture_enseignement_et_soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_en_Occident_aux_XIIe_et_XIIIe_si%C3%A8cles |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Verger, Jacques. "The Universities and Scholasticism", in The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume V c. 1198–c. 1300. Cambridge University Press, 2007, 257.</ref><ref name="Rüegg, Walter 1992, pp. XIX">Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. XIX–XX</ref>

The massive Islamic invasions of the [[Christianity in the 7th century|mid-7th century]] began a long struggle between [[Christianity and Islam]] throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The [[Byzantine Empire]] soon lost the lands of the eastern [[patriarchate]]s of [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], [[Patriarch of Alexandria|Alexandria]] and [[Patriarch of Antioch|Antioch]] and was reduced to that of [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]], the empire's capital. As a result of [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic domination of the Mediterranean]], the Frankish state, centred away from that sea, was able to evolve as the dominant power that shaped the Western Europe of the Middle Ages.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pirenne|first=Henri|year=1980|title=Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade|others=Frank D. Halsey (trans.)|location=Princeton, NJ|publisher=Princeton University Press|orig-date=1925|url={{googlebooks|TKUN4UdfVaQC|page=27|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-0-691-00760-1|pages=27–32}}</ref> The battles of [[Battle of Toulouse (721)|Toulouse]] and [[Battle of Poitiers (732)|Poitiers]] halted the Islamic advance in the West and the failed [[Siege of Constantinople (717–718)|siege of Constantinople]] halted it in the East. Two or three decades later, in 751, the Byzantine Empire lost to the Lombards the city of Ravenna from which it [[Exarchate of Ravenna|governed]] the small fragments of Italy, including Rome, that acknowledged its sovereignty. The fall of Ravenna meant that confirmation by a no longer existent exarch was not asked for during the election in 752 of [[Pope Stephen II]] and that the papacy was forced to look elsewhere for a civil power to protect it.<ref>{{cite book|last=Richards|first=Jeffrey|year=2014|title=The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages|publisher=Routledge|url={{googlebooks|Zod9AwAAQBAJ|page=230|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-1-317-67817-5|page=230}}</ref> In 754, at the urgent request of Pope Stephen, the Frankish king [[Pepin the Short]] conquered the Lombards. He then [[Donation of Pepin|gifted]] the lands of the former exarchate to the pope, thus initiating the [[Papal States]]. Rome and the Byzantine East would delve into further conflict during the [[Photian schism]] of the 860s, when [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]] criticized the Latin west of adding of the ''[[filioque]]'' clause after being excommunicated by [[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas I]]. Though the schism was reconciled, unresolved issues would lead to further division.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Willston|year=1985|title=History of the Christian Church|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFw8PtQhpVoC&pg=PA250|isbn=978-0-684-18417-3|pages=250–251|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310112235/https://books.google.com/books?id=bFw8PtQhpVoC&pg=PA250#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 11th century, the efforts of [[Hildebrand of Sovana]] led to the creation of the [[College of Cardinals]] to elect new popes, starting with [[Pope Alexander II]] in the [[Papal election, 1061|papal election of 1061]]. When Alexander II died, Hildebrand was elected to succeed him, as [[Pope Gregory VII]]. The basic election system of the College of Cardinals which Gregory VII helped establish has continued to function into the 21st century. Pope Gregory VII further initiated the [[Gregorian Reforms]] regarding the independence of the clergy from secular authority. This led to the [[Investiture Controversy]] between the church and the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]s, over which had the authority to appoint bishops and popes.<ref name="Vidmar107">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), pp. 107–11</ref><ref name="Duffy78">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p. 78, quote: "By contrast, Paschal's successor [[Pope Eugene II|Eugenius II]] (824–7), elected with imperial influence, gave away most of these papal gains. He acknowledged the Emperor's sovereignty in the papal state, and he accepted a constitution imposed by Lothair which established imperial supervision of the administration of Rome, imposed an oath to the Emperor on all citizens, and required the pope–elect to swear fealty before he could be consecrated. Under [[Pope Sergius II|Sergius II]] (844–7) it was even agreed that the pope could not be consecrated without an imperial mandate and that the ceremony must be in the presence of his representative, a revival of some of the more galling restrictions of Byzantine rule."</ref>

In 1095, [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos|Alexius I]] appealed to [[Pope Urban II]] for help against renewed Muslim invasions in the [[Byzantine–Seljuk Wars]],<ref name="rileysmith">Riley-Smith, p. 8</ref> which caused Urban to launch the [[First Crusade]] aimed at aiding the Byzantine Empire and returning the [[Holy Land]] to Christian control.{{sfn|Bokenkotter|2004|pp=140–141}} In the [[Christianity in the 11th century|11th century]], strained relations between the primarily Greek church and the Latin Church separated them in the [[East–West Schism]], partially due to conflicts over [[papal]] authority. The [[Fourth Crusade]] and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved the final breach.<ref>{{cite book|last=Phillips|first=Jonathan|title=The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2005|url={{googlebooks|kkA2nomlPLwC|pg=PT19|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-1-101-12772-8|page=PT19}}</ref> In this age great gothic cathedrals in France were an expression of popular pride in the Christian faith.

In the early 13th century [[mendicant orders]] were founded by [[Francis of Assisi]] and [[Saint Dominic|Dominic de Guzmán]]. The ''studia conventualia'' and ''[[studium generale|studia generalia]]'' of the mendicant orders played a large role in the transformation of church-sponsored cathedral schools and palace schools, such as that of [[Charlemagne]] at [[Aachen]], into the prominent universities of Europe.<ref>Woods, pp. 44–48</ref> [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] theologians and philosophers such as the Dominican priest [[Thomas Aquinas]] studied and taught at these studia. Aquinas' ''Summa Theologica'' was an intellectual milestone in its synthesis of the legacy of [[Ancient Greek philosophy|ancient Greek philosophers]] such as Plato and Aristotle with the content of Christian revelation.{{sfn|Bokenkotter|2004|pp=158–159}}

A growing sense of church-state conflicts marked the 14th century. To escape instability in Rome, [[Pope Clement V|Clement V]] in 1309 became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of [[Avignon]] in southern France<ref name="Duffy122">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p. 122</ref> during a period known as the [[Avignon Papacy]]. The Avignon Papacy ended in 1376 when the pope returned to Rome,<ref name="McManners232">Morris, p. 232</ref> but was followed in 1378 by the 38-year-long [[Western Schism|Western schism]], with claimants to the papacy in Rome, Avignon and (after 1409) Pisa.<ref name="McManners232"/> The matter was largely resolved in 1415–17 at the [[Council of Constance]], with the claimants in Rome and Pisa agreeing to resign and the third claimant excommunicated by the cardinals, who held a new election naming [[Pope Martin V|Martin V]] pope.<ref name="McManners240">McManners, p. 240</ref>

In 1438, the [[Council of Florence]] convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.<ref>{{cite book|last=Geanakoplos|first=Deno John|year=1989|title=Constantinople and the West|location=Madison, WI|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-11880-8}}</ref> Several eastern churches reunited, forming the majority of the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Collinge|first=William J.|year=2012|title=Historical Dictionary of Catholicism|publisher=Scarecrow Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR0Nyt3bi_MC&pg=PA169|isbn=978-0-8108-5755-1|page=169|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=8 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230908080036/https://books.google.com/books?id=LR0Nyt3bi_MC&pg=PA169|url-status=live}}</ref>