Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Página 93

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Apostolic See, leaving the pope no choice but to take a moral stand against the king. Even so,
deposition of a ruler was never regarded by Gregory as definitive. The pope’s power over
temporal government was declarative only.187 Making and breaking kings was not his power to
exercise.
This point is better understood in relation to Gregory’s judgment of bishops. When the
pope deposed a bishop it was definitive. The action against the bishop was made final by the
words “sine spe recuperationis,” which made the sentence irrevocable and meant without hope of
restoration and specified the election of a new bishop by canonical electors. Neither edict
against Henry contained such a specific and permanent sentence, which indicated that the pope
did not consider himself able to exercise such a ban.188 Examples are found in Gregory’s
correspondence. Early in October 1077 he wrote about the Bishop of Orleans’ acts of simony
and refusal to respond to multiple summons to Rome. After his excommunication he continued
to perform the duties of a bishop and allowed the pope’s messenger to be taken captive. Gregory
warned that if he continued such behavior “then by the judgment of the Holy Spirit and by
apostolic authority we pronounce against him sentence of condemnation and deposition without
hope of restitution.”189 The pope notified the Ravennese in November of 1078 regarding the
deposition of Wibert because he had “persisted in his disobedience, a sin comparable to that of
idolatry” and that the judgment of the Holy Spirit by means of Holy Synod determined “he was

187

Ibid., 129-30.

188

Morrison, “Canossa: A Revision,” 141-42.

189

Emerton, 127-28.