Other Popes Meddle In Politics

On May 24, 1160, Pope Alexander III excommunicated Frederic Barbarossa, “and released his subjects from their allegiance.” Pope Innocent III “deposed and reinstated princes and released subjects from their oaths” as if he were a universal ruler. In 1208 he placed the whole kingdom of England under “interdict,” excommunicated King John in 1209, and deposed him in 1212, releasing all his subjects from their allegiance to him, and invited King Philip of France to occupy England in the name of the pope. John was finally forced to surrender the kingdom into the hands of the pope, to be returned to him as a fief. The barons, displeased with such transactions, forced the king to sign the “Magna Charta,” a document of liberty. But the pope declared it null and void.FAFA 265.2

“The Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated by Gregory IX; his subjects were released from their allegiance, and he was deposed by Innocent IV [in 1245]. Boniface VIII, who meddled incessantly in foreign affairs, [explained the pope’s] two swords [to mean, that the temporal sword of] the monarch is borne only at the will and by the permission of the Pontiff.” — Id., p. 286.FAFA 265.3