In ancient times, the Catholic Church and the Roman Empire were so closely linked that it was tough to examine the Catholic Church without referring to the Romans. The church had a system involving bishops as the head and it had been greatly impacted by the Roman imperial practices. Following the murder of the Emperor Romulus Augustus by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer who took over, the Roman Empire was thrown into what is historically known as the “dark ages”. It is necessary to indicate that this event only affected the western areas of the Empire. Although the Roman Empire was greatly affected by this, however, their counterpart the Roman Catholic Church was seen to have risen above the situation (McGrath, 2013, p.96). Hence, this paper …show more content…
However, the popes stayed back in Rome and became negotiators with the invaders . Through this , they were able to win the hearts of the people who gave them their fidelity and supported their cause. Absence of any Alternating Power Structures As i mentioned earlier, the forced abdication of Romulus Augustus in 476 led to the collapse of the Roman Empire. A once well-controlled and consolidated system of government began to break down and power was transferred to local rulers. These rulers who were barbaric in nature had no knowledge of organization and civilization neither did they exhibit any knowledge on how to manage the infrastructure and level of development, and as a result , the Roman Empire was destroyed (McGrath, 2013, p.97). This occurrence made most people of Romanian citizenship turn towards the church for protection and supplies, which led to a greater recognition of Christianity as the main religion, resulting in bishops possessing both political and spiritual authority. Also, because of the failure of the military campaign created to recapture the west (Italy), the Emperor of the East could not assert authority in the western part , allowing the pope to exercise political and social influence in these