Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was born Lotario dei Conti di Segni about 1160 near Rome, of a noble family, and was a brilliant scholar of theology and law. Elected pope in 1198 at the age of only thirty-seven, he raised the medieval papacy to the height of its power and influence, asserting the authority of the Roman see over the affairs of Christendom and acting as arbiter among the kings and emperors of Europe.

His crowning achievement was the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, one of the most important councils of the Middle Ages, which enacted far-reaching reforms of Church life, defined the doctrine of the Eucharist using the term transubstantiation, and required the faithful to confess and receive Communion at least once a year. With rare discernment he recognized the promise of the new movements of poverty and preaching, giving his approval to St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic, whose mendicant orders would renew the Church. He also, more controversially, promoted crusades. He died at Perugia on 16 July 1216.