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snnaiil t1_j3eh18r wrote

Can somebody ELI5 the story of how there were once three popes at once and how they all ended up excommunicating each other? Did that actually ever get cleaned up or??

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shantipole t1_j3fa838 wrote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism

The short version is that the popes for a while moved the court to Avignon, in France. This made the Romans (as is citizens of the city) very upset and the Cardinals elected "Roman" pope under duress. Then they went to France and elected a French pope. And then a church council in Pisa which was supposed to solve things elected a third pope.

Eventually, the Pisan and Roman popes got together and worked it out, which the French pope people eventually accepted.

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snnaiil t1_j3fj0ee wrote

Oh thank you!! Finally a mystery has been solved for me

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TheGreatOneSea t1_j3fs8qt wrote

Worth adding, there was a belief that the pope would continually hold conferences to solve theological issues instead of allowing the pope to more or less run things alone as part of the compromise, but people apparently couldn't be bothered.

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