How did the institution of the papacy develop in the Roman Catholic church of the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ Himself. Read Matthew 16:18, Jesus clearly sets up the Church and promises that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He also says to peter that whatsoever he binds in earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven. By doing so he sets peter up as the first pope.

Answer 2

The collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 AD caused an influx of new cultures and peoples that swept over much of the old Roman Europe. Many of these cultures had a very warlike mentality, being that they were less established than Rome in the aspect of civilization building. So in order to survive the harshness of barbarian Europe many of these people's had to wage constant wars to check the balance of power between many of these tribes. This was evident in Anglo-Saxon Britain, where dozens of Germanic Kingdoms waged war on eachother to make sure none of them would grow too powerful; this shows why it took so long for England to unify (950 AD?) With this in mentality, many people's subjected to the Barbarians reign turned to religion as a stabilizing force, so that the balance of power wouldn't shift as much. Tribes that had the same exact religion would be less prone to actually waging war on eachother, especially with such an institution like the Papacy acting as a mediator in many conflicts. This explains why such tribes like the Franks were able to aquire success in expanding into full fledgling Kingdoms, being that they used religious authority as a tool to stabilize Europe. Charlemagne eventually used it as a tool to make himself out as the legitimate successor of the Western Roman Empire, when he was crowned as Emperor of the Carolignian Empire around 800 AD. With religion unifying territories once under the control of Pagan Barbarians, several feudal kingdoms spawned in Europe by the late 10th century. Some of these were Poland, Germany, France, Burgundy, Scotland and England. So you see that the Papacy grew so powerful because it was the focal religious institution of Christianity, and Christianity was seen as an escape of the once turbulent times Europe had found during the Barbarian invasions of the old Roman Empire. Feudalism also contributed greatly to the empowerment of the Papacy, being that wide social inequality was found, particularly with the Serfs who were also the largest social class in Europe. An average serf could not read or write, therefore they were easier to control in the perspective of the Clergy and Nobles. A Serf did not see much way out of the system already inplace so most of the times they would follow decrees issued by Nobles or the Church, because they were simply seen as the authority; In a Serf's eyes they were seen as more intelligent and more capable of governing the country, since they were educated from a small age. The Church found warfare with other religions extremely easy for this reason, and by the late 11th century, Crusades were dispatched. In a more basic concept, Serf's followed the Church, because they didn't know better. They were extremely poor, lacked proper education and would most likely never travel further than 20 miles from their homes in a lifetime! The Papacy thus became so powerful because they checked the balance of Power between the feuding realms of Europe, being that all these realms followed their religion; thus each realm would have to follow Church doctrine. The Church's hold on Europe slowly declined with the Protestant reformation in the early 16th century, being that many European countries didn't have to follow Church decrees anymore, since their people broke away from Catholicism. This also shows how important religion has been in governance as well as education. I hope this answers your question.