Many of Gregory’s claims now appear intolerable. Yet we must agree that Gregory and his powerful successors stood for two principles that to the Christian are incontestable: (1) In the loyalties of men, the spiritual has the primacy over the secular; and (2) the families of men can find true unity only in Christ and in obedience to the law of God. Medieval society was far from perfect. But during the Middle Ages, Europe became conscious of itself as a unity, far beyond the uncertain limits of the Holy Roman Empire; and the church attained a level of power and influence over the lives of men,
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