Today, September 20th, back in the year 1378, was the day that the Great Western Schism started.
Y’know . . . that thing where there were two and then later three guys purporting to be pope at once. . . . Threw all of Europe into confusion. . . . Was a precipitating cause of the Protestant Reformation. . . . All that bad stuff?
Well,
GET THE STORY.
Includes a handy chart of the popes and anti-popes of the period!
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
View all posts by Jimmy Akin
Those wacky French cardinals.
God shield us from this ever happening again. As Jimmy alludes, we’re still living out the consequences of this history. And add to that the anguish this caused for medieval Christians back then.
God shield us from this ever happening again.
There are false claimants to the papacy today, too.
Antipopes today…
Pope Michael I
Pope Pius XIII
Pope Peter II, successor to Pope Gregory XVII
Another Pope Peter II
Pope Linus II
Pope Clement XV
etc.
True, pha. I was partly aware of that fact too -I meant to refer mainly to the extent of the division and the amount of distress/repercussions caused.
Saint Hippolytus, pray for us.
Why he is particularly appropriate.
Don’t forget Joel Osteen and Bill Hybels . .
(grin, duck and run)