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The popes · No. 176 of 267

Innocent III

The most powerful pope of the Middle Ages, and the barefoot beggar he said yes to.

Pope 1198 to 1216

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A thirteenth-century fresco of Pope Innocent III in a white mitre and red vestments, Sacro Speco, Subiaco.

Carlo Raso, 2016. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The popes / Innocent III

Rome, 1198

The cardinals elect a man of thirty-seven.1

Lothario dei Conti becomes Innocent III, and for eighteen years kings across Europe will feel his hand.1

He is famous for power. He should also be remembered for a meeting with a poor man from Assisi.

01Innocent III

Power and its limits

Innocent intervened in the affairs of kingdoms from Portugal to England.1

He launched the Fourth Crusade to recover the Holy Land, and was bitterly disappointed when the crusaders turned on Christian cities instead.1

In 1215 he held the Fourth Lateran Council, one of the great reforming councils of the Middle Ages.1

02Innocent III

A beggar at the Lateran

In 1209 or 1210 Francis of Assisi came to Rome with his first companions, and Innocent approved their way of life.2

The most powerful pope in Europe looked at a man who owned nothing and saw the future of the Church.

A thirteenth-century fresco of Pope Innocent III in a white mitre and red vestments, Sacro Speco, Subiaco.
Innocent III in a fresco painted in his own lifetime at the Sacro Speco, Subiaco. Carlo Raso, 2016. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

A century later, a pope would announce the first Holy Year.

Notes

  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Pope Innocent III”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org
  2. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “St. Francis of Assisi”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.