A permanent Avignon Papacy

What if there had continued to be an (anti)Pope in Avignon in defiance of the Pope in Rome?

And maybe while this pope is followed outside of France, in many ways this breakaway RCC is in reality a Gallican Church.
 
What if there had continued to be an (anti)Pope in Avignon in defiance of the Pope in Rome?

And maybe while this pope is followed outside of France, in many ways this breakaway RCC is in reality a Gallican Church.

The problem, of course, is that the "Pope" is, by definition, the Bishop of Rome. It's pretty hard to seriously claim that you are the "Bishop of Rome", when there is another guy claiming the same thing and who IS IN Rome.

The split in the Papacy was considered a huge scandal at the time, and people worked very hard to heal the split.

OTOH, the situation did endure for a considerable period of time, and I suppose it could have continued. It would certainly lead to the 'French pope' being essentially the head of a Gallican church, as you say.

I think that if the French actually get away with it, that others will, too. A Spanish pope, an HREGN pope. What happens when the Reformation hits will be very interesting. (Because the decreased authority and respect of the fractioned and factioned *RCC will have such a huge hit that even Hussites and Lollards might survive iTTL. A Reformation is surely guaranteed iTTL.)

Does the English church do its own pope or just go 'protestant'? lots of options. What do the Scandinavians do?
 
Arguably the Anglican Church followed the tradition of the 'antipope' by naming the monarch head of the CoE.

Multiple Popes could easily lead to some areas, such as Italy and the HRE, being fought over for one pope or another. Possibly the Rhineland becomes an area constested between the Italian, French, Spanish and Austrian Popes, along with the Swiss Reformist church.
 
I think that if the French actually get away with it, that others will, too. A Spanish pope, an HREGN pope. What happens when the Reformation hits will be very interesting. (Because the decreased authority and respect of the fractioned and factioned *RCC will have such a huge hit that even Hussites and Lollards might survive iTTL. A Reformation is surely guaranteed iTTL.)
I don't think we'd end up with anything like a recognizable Reformation if the Catholic Church splinters; more likely we just end up with the various national churches becoming increasingly divergent on dogma and doctrine over time. That could easily result in things like the Bohemian Catholic Church being essentially Hussite, the Danish Catholic Church being Lutheran, etc, but it wouldn't be anything like OTL's Reformation.
 
Probably have to have a non-Christian power in control of Rome for it to work.

It would work as well if an Italian duke takes and hold Rome (say a Visconti of Milan or a Medici). Whatever the reason, it would be the greatest stroke f luck that Italy might stumble in.
 
Probably have to have a non-Christian power in control of Rome for it to work.
Hmm, Moslems from Spain or Africa (depending on the era) conquer part of Italy, and manage to hold it? Would think that large parts of Europe would respond to a call to restore the Pope to his traditional seat.
 
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