As the year 1299 draws to a close, in the exalted atmosphere of the transition to a new century, tens of thousands of pilgrims spontaneously flock to Rome to share a moment of celebration and communion. Pope Boniface VIII, anxious to strengthen his authority within Christianity, understood that he could benefit from this enthusiasm.
At the beginning of the year 1300, he declared to grant “indulgences” – the remission before God of punishments incurred due to sins – to all those who would go on pilgrimage to the Eternal City during the “Holy Year” which he has just opened: the first jubilee (a term from the Latin anniversaries“to rejoice”) Catholic has just been established.
This tradition inherited from ancient practices, of which we find traces in the Hebrew Bible, invites the faithful to mutual forgiveness, repentance and trust in God. But at the time it took on another dimension, more political. “Pope Boniface VIII managed to take control of a spontaneous movement and used it to strengthen his spiritual authority”summarizes historian Bernard Dompnier, professor emeritus at Clermont-Auvergne University. In a medieval Christianity where information and people circulate little and where the spiritual references are the bishops and their priests, the pope imposes an event with a universal aim which he controls, and where he is at the center. All in a context of tensions with the King of France Philip the Fair, whose authority over the Church Boniface VIII contests.
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