Among those popes who dedicated themselves to the reform of the church, perhaps the most significant and remarkable was a young man of 37, from a Roman noble family, who became Pope Innocent III in 1198. Seen here in the contemporary fresco. Handsome, witty, a lover of puns, innocent, had an extraordinary sense of the power of the papacy and a desire to unite the spiritual and temporal in the figure of the successor of Peter. He wrote, in a sermon for the consecration of a pope. To me it said in the person of a prophet. I have set the over nations and over kingdoms to root up and to pull down, and to waste and to destroy, and to build and to plant, Jeremiah 1:10. To me it's also said in the person of the apostle, I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shall bind, shall be bound in heaven, Matthew 16:19. Thus the others were called to apart of the care, but Peter alone assumed the plenitude of power. You see then who is the servant set over the household. Truly the vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of Peter. Anointed of the Lord. A god of Pharaoh, set between God and man. Lower than God, but higher than man. Who judges all and is judged by no one. Lower than God, higher than man. A phrase with which Innocent III would be forever associated. Reflecting this idea of the Pope as this person set above all others, including the Holy Roman Emperor. Innocent inherited a position that was under considerable threat. The Hohenstaufens had threatened Rome for the previous 25 years. And the papal lands were in considerable danger. Innocent set about to restore the papacy in all his aspects, as a temporal authority, as a spiritual authority. And he did this by close interaction with the political world across Europe. He involved himself in Imperial elections, backing candidates. He was involved in the crowning of a king in Bulgaria. His reach was to Sweden in the north, England. In all cases he negotiated relations that put the papacy in an advantageous position. Innocent was among the most powerful of the medieval popes. This extraordinary, charismatic figure, his ideals extended to the reform of the church, the Lateran Council of 1215. And here also to crusading the disastrous siege of Constantinople In 1204. So many different facets to this extraordinary figure. He studied theology in Paris, yet his heart was ultimately pastoral. He cared passionately for the reform of the church but above all for it's spirituality and practice. He was, himself, the author of numerous tracks on pastoral care. Some extending to almost 700 pages. A prolific author whose vision of the church was to restore its institutions, its sacraments, its theology, and its practice. This took shape in 1215 with his calling of the Lateran Council, here represented in a manuscript of Matthew of Paris from the 13th century. The Lateran Council, which brought together a large number of representatives of the church, was in many ways Innocent's triumphant moment. It established itself as the basis of what would become defining of medieval Christianity. Innocent ensured the seven sacraments including the explication of the doctrine of transubstantiation whereby the bread and wine really become the body and blood of Christ. Next to the sacraments he also established that all Christians should confess and receive the Eucharist once a year. That that was the standard by which they should live in order to be Christians and that would remain the standard. He brought about reform of practice. What bishops should do? Preaching, pastoral care, occupying their offices, being present in their dioceses. A vast body of reform legislation which envisaged the church in its institutional form. But more than that, as a church that administered the sacraments and cared for its members by offering pastoral care, by preaching to them, and teaching them through Catechism. But in so doing, Innocent also clearly marked out what was the Church, and what therefore was outside the Church? And he was a great opponent of heresy, amongst others, the Cathars in Spain and Southern France. Innocent had a crusading spirit. He was responsible not only for the eradication or the attempt to eradicate heresy, but he sought also to fulfill his dream of restoring or recapturing Jerusalem. He believed that God, had given a special duty to him to regain Jerusalem. That led in 1204, as we've already mentioned, to a crusade, that was a complete disaster. The sack of Constantinople destroyed relations between the Eastern and Western churches, although Innocent tried to punish those who were responsible. His crusading efforts were by far his least successful part of his service as Pope. In comparison to his reform of the church, the crusades were disaster. But the reform of the church and his desire to lead a crusade against heresy in Europe brought Innocent in contact with two figures who would continue the transformation of the church and of Christianity in Europe. First, he engaged the figure of Dominic to preach. In having recognized that the crusade by force was having little effect, Innocent demonstrated his wisdom by realizing the converts will only be achieved by the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the teaching of the church. And he engage Dominic and his followers. Perhaps more famously, he met with the figure of Francis of Assisi. Nobody knows exactly what transpired in their meeting together. But clearly Innocent was deeply affected by that engagement. And it would not be long to both dominate and Francis would found the mendicant orders which would become such a central part of medieval church life. Innocent played a significant role in this. Innocent III is one of the most important figures to occupy the papacy in the medieval period. His ideas transformed the church. His charisma was such that he drew many to him and inspired others so that the reform of the church became possible. Ultimately, his vision of the supremacy of the papacy over temporal authority would not prevail. But, he was in the age of the reforming popes, one whose success would be marked over the centuries.