Quick Take: Why Are Popes Elected by Cardinals?

Christian democracy in the Middle Ages, for paying subscribers only

For the better part of the 1st millennium, Roman popes were handpicked by Roman emperors.

This was particularly the case since the late 4th century, when Western Roman Emperor Gratian (r. 367-383) found himself with a treasury running low and an army bled dry. Like Constantine the Great before him, he turned to Christians for support and, in 380, issued the Edict of Thessalonica, effectively making mainstream, Catholic-style Christianity the only legal form of the religion.

This was a risky move, since the edict made all other Christian currents heresies, including the Arianism preferred by the West’s co-ruler Valentinian II, but Gratian succeeded: cheered by upper-class Christians who loathed Arians, Gratian withdrew government funding for pagan ceremonies, removed the privileges of the Vestal Virgins, and reinforced the position of Rome’s bishop – long called “Pope” – by effectively passing on the emperor’s duties as Pontifex Maximus to Damasus, a Lusitanian priest who became Gratian’s enforcer in the ancient capital.

Since the Roman bishopric was the world’s most important, emperors strove to keep popes under a tight leash and to make sure that they would have the final say on who would become pope. Control over papal appointments briefly passed on to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in the 6th century. Over the following centuries, the northern Italian aristocracy quarreled over the issue with Carolingian emperors, first, and Holy Roman (German) emperors later.

These quarrels, and a growing sense of independence in a Church that was becoming wealthier and more powerful, led to reforms in Rome that strengthened the authority of the pope’s entourage, making the Catholic hierarchy less responsive to external political pressure.