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and download it today. Episode 50, the collapse of the Papacy. I'm Steve, your host for this

podcast about the history of the popes of Rome and Christian Church.

Throughout this podcast, I've said that we will focus on the religious story

and how the popes of Rome fit into the larger story of history.

If the political situation really affected events, I would try to summarize them

and give you some resources that you can learn some more

from. I feel at this point, though, we really need to set the stage politically because big things

happen during this period of terminal decline of the Western Roman Empire, and that will

greatly impact our story in this podcast.

The basic fabric of society was changing in Europe. The changes impacted everything, government,

class, economics, military, and religion. The church will have a role in all of this. Today we've brought in a guest who can help us

understand the fundamental changes that were going on. We're not talking about dates and this

emperor did that and that general did this. We're going to look at changes in power in light of

collapse of one government and what filled the void of that government.

...