22. The Barbarian Popes - Leading a Church in the Post-Roman World

When the last Western Roman Emperor was deposed in 476 CE, the papacy faced an existential crisis. This episode examines how popes from Simplicius to Gregory the Great transformed potential catastrophe into institutional opportunity, preserving Roman administrative traditions while forging diplomatic relationships with new barbarian rulers. Gelasius I's "two swords" doctrine, the complex navigation between Constantinople and Ostrogothic Italy, and Gregory's practical governance innovations reveal how the papacy reimagined itself for a post-Roman world.



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