Pope Innocent I (Latin: Innocentius I; died 12 March 417) served as the Catholic Church Pope from 401 to his death in 417.

Biography

According to his biographer in the Liber Pontificalis, Innocent was a native of Albano Laziale and the son of a man called Innocentius, but his contemporary Jerome referred to him as the son of the previous pope, Anastasius I, probably a unique case of a son succeeding his father in the papacy. According to Urbano Cerri, Pope Innocent was native of Albania.

Innocent I lost no opportunity in maintaining and extending the authority of the Roman apostolic See, which was seen as the ultimate resort for the settlement of all ecclesiastical disputes. His communications with Victricius of Rouen, Exuperius of Toulouse, Alexander of Antioch and others, as well as his actions on the appeal made to him by John Chrysostom against Theophilus of Alexandria, show that opportunities of this kind were numerous and varied. He took a decided view on the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the synod of the province of proconsular Africa, held in Carthage in 416, which had been sent to him, and also writing in the same year in a similar sense to the fathers of the Numidian synod of Mileve who had addressed him (Augustine of Hippo among them). In addition he acted as metropolitan over the bishops of Italia Suburbicaria.

Pope Innocent III (Latin: Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216) reigned from 8 January 1198 to his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni.

Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential popes. He exerted a wide influence over the Christian regimes of Europe, claiming supremacy over all of Europe's kings. Pope Innocent was central in supporting the Catholic Church's reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and the Fourth Lateran Council. This resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. Pope Innocent is notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, although these measures were not uniformly successful. Innocent called for Christian crusades against Muslim Spain and the Holy Land, as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France.

One of Pope Innocent's most critical decisions was organizing the Fourth Crusade. Originally intended to attack Jerusalem through Egypt, a series of unforeseen circumstances led the crusaders to Constantinople, where they ultimately attacked and sacked the city (1204). Innocent reluctantly accepted this result, seeing it as the will of God to reunite the Latin and Orthodox Churches, but it poisoned relations between the two churches.

Pope Innocent may refer to: