| Unam sanctam Latin for 'One and Holy' Papal bull of Pope Boniface VIII | |
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| Signature date | 18 November 1302 |
| Subject | Relations between the Catholic Church and the state |
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Unam sanctam[a] is a papal bull that was issued by Pope Boniface VIII on 18 November 1302. It laid down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Catholic Church, the necessity of belonging to it for eternal salvation, the position of the Pope as supreme head of the Church and the duty thence arising of submission to the Pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation. The Pope further emphasized the higher position of the spiritual in comparison with the secular order. The historian Brian Tierney calls it "probably the most famous" document on church and state in medieval Europe.[1] The original document is lost, but a version of the text can be found in the registers of Boniface VIII in the Vatican Archives.[2] The bull was the definitive statement of the late medieval theory of hierocracy, which argued for the temporal as well as spiritual supremacy of the pope.[3]
| Separation of church and state in the history of the Catholic Church |
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Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Tierney, Brian (1988) [1964]. The crisis of church and state, 1050–1300: with selected documents. Medieval Academy reprints for teaching. Vol. 23 (Reprint ed.). Toronto [u.a.]: University of Toronto Press in association with the Medieval Academy of America. p. 182. ISBN 9780802067012.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kirsch, Johann Peter (1912). "Unam Sanctam". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Sisson, Keith (2016). "Popes over Princes: Hierocratic Theory". In Sisson, Keith; Larson, Atria A. (eds.). A Companion to the Medieval Papacy: Growth of an Ideology and Institution. Leiden: Brill. p. 131. ISBN 9789004299856.
