After the fall of Rome, bishops led the early church, the papacy served as authority over the people, and church laws were soon universal. The bishop of Rome was recognized as a superior because Peter was the first authority of the city and that earned some popularity points with the public. For centuries Popes claimed supremacy over the Roman Catholic Church [1].The power of the see of Constantinople challenged Rome 's power. This led to a slip of the eastern and western churches. The Eastern church resented the Roman enforcement of clerical celibacy and the limitation of the right of confirmation to the bishop. There were also jurisdictional disputes between Rome and Constantinople, including Rome 's assertion for papal primacy …show more content…
Leo, also known as Leo the Great was bishop from 440-461. Leo the Great 's sermons represente the first systematic commentary. He sought to fortify the faith of the citizens of Rome [8]. During his reign, Rome faced two serious threats from the Huns and the Vandals. These resulted in giving the papacy even more authority over Rome. Pope Leo is most famous for meeting with Attila the Hun and persuading him to turn his back from invading Italy. He was a contributor to the centralization of spiritual authority witin the Church and in reaffirming papal authority [9]. Pope Gregory the Second became the defender of the temporal and spiritual interests and faith. He addressed respectful letters to the emperor, to induce him to maintain in the churches a salutary practice [9]. As the papacy grew some positive and negative outcomes developed for Christianity and civilization. The positive outcomes can be seen in the reign of both Pope Leo and Pope Gregory. Leo was very grounded in his nature of Christ. He was vital in his battle against the Huns and Attila. Pope Gregory also increased positivity in papacy for Rome. He laid the foundation for medieval papacy and dilineated what he believed would be a successful papacy. The corruption and lies could be a negative outcome of the papacy because it was this that led to the Protestant Reformation