Why did the church became stronger in the West?

Answer 1

From the early days the Christian Church in Rome used kings and political leaders to exert its control. The church gained a monopoly in the 6th century when the Roman Emperors Theodosius and Justinian banned all other religions, discussion of religion and philosophy within the Empire, which at that time was extensive.

Its main opposition came from the Celtic Christian Church. In The Greatest Lie Ever Told, WH Uffington says: "While Celtic Christianity in mainland Britain was subject to frequent harassment from Rome, in Ireland things generally took a different course. Ireland lacked the fairly-centralised political control that was common in the area that later became England. There were no large towns or cities, but rather a tribal village society. Ireland, like Britain in Celtic times, had no churches, just isolated monasteries and none of these were under any kind of centralised ecclesiastical control, so this independent system was ripe for picking off, bit by bit, by the missionaries of the Church of Rome."

In 1172 the Council of Cashel brought the Celtic Church of Ireland under the Roman Catholic control of Henry II of England: Ireland was a gift from the Vatican!

But in the 19th century, the matter had still not ended. A 19th century Roman Catholic historian, O'Driscoll wrote in Volume II of Views on Ireland that the Council of Cashel left Irish religious belief and practice in a sorry state:

"… This council put an end to the ancient Church of Ireland, and submitted it to the yoke of Rome. From the days of St. Patrick, to the council of Cashel, was a bright and glorious career for Ireland. From the sitting of this council to our time, the lot of Ireland has been universal evil, and all her history a tale of woe. …"

It is ironic that many of the Irish Celtic monks settled in the Alps and carried on their teaching in opposition to Rome, today we see their descendents in Austria demanding that the Church in Rome make changes to recognise divorce and married priest, as the group of 700 rebel priests say, "We are not the stooges of Rome, we are the shepherds of our people."