AHC: End the Papacy

Wasn't that because the French forcibly moved them there, though? So the king of France could have his own personal pope, basically?

To some extent, yes.

But the fact remains that "Papacy in exile" is something that would be the natural response to that happening in Rome, not "Oh well, guess we have to get rid of the Pope."
 
Take Charlemagne off the table or, barring that, remove his alliance with the Papacy. The Papacy's ascent to real prominence began when the Franks became the main benefactor and protector of Rome, taking over from the Byzantine Empire. No Charlemagne or a successful conquest of Italy by Belisarius would leave the Bishop of Rome effectively under the thumb of Constantinople and Ravenna, ensuring the Papacy never becomes the institution it did OTL.

Remember it took Lateran IV for the Pope to truly ascend to his dominant position, in the years and decades leading up to it there were abbots and bishops who had more power than the Pope. Diminish the power of the Papacy early and it never becomes the papacy we all know.
 
Perhaps an earlier and more extensive little schism followed by one or more schisms.
We then end up with several Popes in rivalry.
Eventual negiotiations bestow the office upon a unified - and possibly federal - council of cardinals.
 
The 1848 revolutions result in a brutal war of German unification, with either a republic or a Protestant state winning. The new Germany launches a kulturkampf against Catholics in the German Reich. Just like the French revolution, this strikes fear into the remaining conservative and Catholic monarchs.

As a result, a *fascist Roman League between the Papal States, the Hapsburgs, Emperor Napoleon III, and the Bourbons of Spain is formed.

A shrewd and charismatic political manipulator then worms his way into power, blessed by the Pope himself and commanding an army of fanatic supporters. Said charismatic leader then pledges to eradicate the Protestant heresy once and for all. Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, the Ottomans, and Russia form an alliance of convenience in response.

However, said manipulator surrounded himself with sycophants and yes-men. When the war begins, the Roman League makes astonishing gains yet commit unspeakable genocides. These gains are eventually reversed with the German flag flying over St. Peter's Basilica. Some Protestant extremists call for the Basilica to be blown up, but cooler heads prevail.
 
The Exarchate of Ravenna succeeds in governing Italy for well over a century longer than it did OTL. Under the Exarchs, who evolve from being de facto and de jure Byzantine governors to independent monarchs with little to tie them to Constantinople, the Pope's power is slowly and deliberately attacked. By law the Bishop of Ravenna is made Primate of Italy. Eastern influences are pushed onto the Church. After a final rebellion of some sort looks to the Bishop of Rome for support and makes its final stand in Rome, the Diocese of Rome is dissolved and the last Pope lives out his life has a blind monk in a Greek monastery.

Without even the semblance of Italian leadership, each country develops a national Church that does its own thing while trying to play nice with others.
 
There were some groups in xv and early xvi century that wanted to reorganize the Church in a very radical way, i.e. to put the Ecumenical councils far above the Pope and make College of cardinals govern everyday affairs of the Church so that would reduce the Pope's role to simply representative functions.
 
There were some groups in xv and early xvi century that wanted to reorganize the Church in a very radical way, i.e. to put the Ecumenical councils far above the Pope and make College of cardinals govern everyday affairs of the Church so that would reduce the Pope's role to simply representative functions.


I guess your new here so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but your not supposed to bump old threads. Just create a new one, and if you want, link the old one in.
 
But the fact remains that "Papacy in exile" is something that would be the natural response to that happening in Rome, not "Oh well, guess we have to get rid of the Pope."

In exile you might see rival Popes emerging from different powers though, as has happened to governments in exile a few times, the position becomes so bickered over that eventually it's power is minimised to ceremonial masses.

I know Nuclear War is a cop-out but there's a good 'After Threads' scenario on the site where there are three different Popes by the mid-2030's but the Vatican City is in ruins and Italy's too chaotic/irradiated for any of them to actually try and take the position by rebuilding it.
 
Make the Borgia Papacy even worse that it was in OTL. The Pope remains as a figure head, but the job of actually ruling the Church falls to the College of Cardinals.
building on this, the Pope eventually becomes such a figurehead that, a couple centuries after the end of the Borgia Papacy, they simply stop electing Popes and the College of Cardinals becomes both de facto and de jure leadership of the Church
 
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