After his election to the papacy (1523-34), Clement moved the Papacy to Rome to begin the 72 year Babylonian Captivity of the papacy, it was moved to Avignon, France. When Clement VII was selected, he ruled from Avignon while Pope Urban VI ruled from Rome. This began the Great Schism of the Papacy. Clement refused to annul King Henry's marriage to Catherine because she was the Aunt of Charles V, Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Clement eventually excommunicated Henry. His alliance with Francis I, King of France, spurred the Ire of King Charles V, who marched against Rome and sacked it. Clement barely escaped with his life.

[tags]BlogRodent, Charles-V, church-history, ChurchRodent, Francis-I, Great-Schism, history, Pope-Clement-VII, Pope-Urban-VI[/tags]

During the Great Schism, when three men simultaneously claimed Divine rights to the papacy, the Holy Roman Emperor assembled a council at Constance in Germany to chose a new Vicar of Christ, Martin V. Upon ascending to the papacy Martin repudiated all acts of the council, except the one by which he ruled. In spite of the legal difficulties this raised, Martin V had good reason to deny the work of the council for it raised a very important question: Who is greater, a general council that creates the pope, or the pope who claims supremacy over councils? The counciliar movement aimed at transforming the papacy into something like a limited monarchy. Constance solemnly decreed that general councils were superior to popes and that they should meet at regular intervals in the future. The pope called this heretical. His return to power plus the inability of later councils to introduce

In 1377 the aged Pope Gregory XI re-entered Rome, and shortly passed away. In haste the College of Cardinals elected a new pope, Pope Urban VI. In August the cardinals suddenly informed all Europe that the people of Rome had forced the election of an apostate to the chair of Peter and that the proceedings were invalid. A new College of Cardinals then elected another pope a month later, Pope Clement VII. Clement moved about Italy and eventually sailed for France and Avignon. Thus, with Urban ruling from Rome and Clement from Avignon the Great Schism began, lasting for 39 years. Each pope had his own College of Cardinals, and each pope claimed to be the true Vicar of Christ with the power to excommunicate those who did not acknowledge him. France went with Clement; Italy with Urban. The empire went with Urban; so did England. Scotland went with Clement.

While the fourteenth century may be too early to speak of "nations" in the modern sense of the term, in 1414 when the Holy Roman Emperor assembled at Constance, Germany to settle the Great Schism, voting for a new Vicar of Christ took place on a purely national basis. Instead of the traditional assembly of bishops, the council included lay representatives and was organized as a convention of "nations". Each nation had one vote.

Ironically, while the beginnings of nationalism may find its roots in Germany, it is in Germany that we may also find its excess. After World War I right-wing governments sprang up all over Europe, but the greatest was German national Socialism, better known as Nazism. The leader of the Nazi movement was Austrian-born Adolf Hitler, who was named chancellor of the German Republic on 30 January 1933. Two years later he gained complete control of