The pontifical absolutism of the 15th century in two opuscules by Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo
Abstract
Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo, who was originally a strong conciliarist, became later a fervent advocate of the Pope. Two of his works offer a remarkable development of his ideas: De libera et irrefragabili auctoritate Romani Pontificis (1464/1465) and De sceleribus Turchi (1467). The main focus for Arévalo is the divine origin of power, based on the figure of Saint Paul and the titles of vicarius Christi and princeps. The papal potestas has two essential features: it is total and limitless. Arévalo uses the Aristotelian concept of epiqueya with the purpose of supporting the completely free exercise of papal power. Arévalo reflects on the relationship between the Pope and the college of cardinals, whose faculty is limited to the election of the pope as a person. They are subject to the Pope in terms of obedience. Arévalo adopts an organic analogy of the body politics in which the Pope is the head of the mystic body of the Church.
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