Was Pope Innocent II as innocent as his name might suggest? Who was Pope Innocent the II? Pope Innocent II was born as Gregorio Papareschi in Rome though the actual date of his birth is unknown. Gregorio was given many different positions of responsibilities early in life and it may be surprising to know he was heavily involved in Papal politics for a long time before he finally become Pope.
Pope Paschal II had made him a Cardinal Deacon. He went with Pope Gelasisus II to France and Pope Calixtus II sent him on many missions including a mission to Worms Germany to make peace with the Holy Roman Emperor. After Pope Honorius II died Pope Innocent II was named the new Pope and made a Pope only a day after Honorius death which was extremely fast for any Pope to be made a pope. At the time there was a fight over the papacy with the Anti-Pope Anacletus II. Anacletus II was able to take Rome but was unable to gain support of the majority of the church. Anacletues II had been made Pope by a majority of the school of cardinals and at the time canonically was the true pope.
The only reason Anacletus II is an Anti-Pope is that Anacletus lost the war and Innocent changed the rules regarding the process of choosing a Pope which made him a legitimate Pope though only based on his later change even though before his change he was doctrinally not the Pope and had no authority to make such a change.
What allowed Innocent II to beat out Anacletus II was his previous experience with working with the Germans during the Concordant of Worms. By getting the Holy Roman Empire behind him he was able to overthrow Anacletus II who was by doctrinal rules was in fact the rightful Pope.
This schism is a great example of two different points of doctrine and the Catholic Church. First this is a great example of a Papal schism the only reason one person is a Pope or an Anti-Pope is because they were the winners or losers. The second is the change of doctrine that so often took place and would often contradict previous doctrine, and was also often used to support a Pope who had beaten another contender that had a more legitimate claim to the Papacy.
How was Innocent II able to convince the Germans to join him is likely to remain unknown. It is likely that he had to give the Germans something so they would side with a Pope who had no legitimate claim to the Papacy. So is Innocent II really so Innocent? The world will never know.
Works Cited
Dale Kinney, “Spolia from the Baths of Caracalla in Sta. Maria in Trastevere”, The Art Bulletin68.3 (September 1986:379-397).
The Historia Compostelena, Galicia (Spain) for the bishop of Santiago de Compostela.
