When Gregory I became Pope in 590, among his first acts were writing a series of letters disavowing any ambition to the throne of Peter and praising the contemplative life of the monks. At that time the Holy See had not exerted effective leadership in the West since the pontificate of Gelasius I. The episcopacy in Gaul was drawn from the great territorial families, and identified with them: the parochial horizon of Gregory's contemporary, Gregory of Tours, may be considered typical; in Visigothic Spain the Bishops had little contact with Rome; in Italy the papacy was beset by the violent Lombard dukes and the rivalry of the Jews in the Exarchate of Ravenna and in the south. The scholarship and culture of Celtic Christianity had developed utterly unconnected with Rome, and it was from Ireland that Britain and Germany were likely to become Christianised, or so it seemed.
Pope Gregory I revitalised the Church and connected all West under the authority of the Holy See...
WI Gregory I is never elected Pope? Would have West became one Church under the Pope or national churches would rise? Aka Church of Gaul Church of Spain Church of Ireland etc. under their own Primates unconnected with Rome... is this possible? How is this affecting History?
Pope Gregory I revitalised the Church and connected all West under the authority of the Holy See...
WI Gregory I is never elected Pope? Would have West became one Church under the Pope or national churches would rise? Aka Church of Gaul Church of Spain Church of Ireland etc. under their own Primates unconnected with Rome... is this possible? How is this affecting History?