Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

Spiritual or Secular Leader: Innocent III

Pope Innocent III is one of the most influential and powerful popes in history. Though he lived and worked in Italy during the 1200s, Innocent influenced people across Europe and affected many people outside Christendom. Some of his changes still had an impact in the mid-1900s. Although Innocent was most certainly a spiritual leader, scholars have long debated Innocent’s power as a secular leader. Should Pope Innocent III as a spiritual leader have power over secular rulers and their peoples? To better understand Innocent’s actions and motivations, the purpose of this paper is to outline a clearer division between how he exerts power within the institution of the church and how he exerts power throughout the secular world. In the end, though he held the title of pope, it appears that Innocent III was not so much a spiritual leader of Europe as one of the most powerful secular leaders across Europe.