WILLIAM OF OCKHAM, SUPREMACY OF PAPAL POWER, EVANGELICAL POVERTY AND NOMINALISM

YESTERDAY’S HISTORY, TODAY’S REALITY?

Abstract

The article aims to analyze some characteristics of the debate on evangelical poverty and the supremacy of papal power, based on the socio-ecclesial and political context of the Franciscan William of Ockham, in the 14th century. In the context in which such discussions took place, which began in the 13th century, the Church sought to legitimize pontifical power as divine in nature and, even to justify the supremacy of spiritual power over temporal power, sought to delegitimize the practice of evangelical poverty defended by the Order founded by Francis of Assisi. At the time, based on a new philosophical movement called nominalism, Ockham, when defending that Christ had no goods, refuted the arguments used by the Church and sought to demonstrate that the pope was not lord of the two powers (temporal and spiritual), but just administrator of the community of believers. Furthermore, he argued that spiritual and temporal powers are autonomous and must be exercised independently. What was history yesterday is reality today? What is the scope and consequences, symbolically generated by this historical fact, for society and, particularly, for the contemporary Catholic Church? Such questions are on the horizon of the reflections in this article.