The First Degradation of the Papacy

As was observed, however deserving of criticism the popes of the Middle Ages may be, what cannot be said of them is, that they were lacking ingenuity to devise ways and means for legitimatizing their false position in the eyes of men. As we said, what perhaps must be regarded as the outstanding example of such papal ingenuity was the appearance of the Pseudo-Isidor in the middle of the ninth century. As was said, this code of ecclesiastical laws -- for such it was -- turned out to be, on...