They Ruled East and West
By Thomas V. Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 07, 2026 | In Lives of the Popes (Podcast)
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So far in this series, we’ve seen a number of examples of early popes exercising authority over bishops and churches outside of Rome, and even outside of the West. As the documentary record improves, this becomes even clearer, and the popes in this installment, especially St. Innocent I, are striking for the extent to which they asserted their prerogative to govern the entire global Church. We also see evidence of the ancient discipline of clerical continence, the first instance of a person being executed for heresy, and the beginning of the Pelagian controversy.
Links
Pope St. Siricius’s Decretal to Himerius https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/siricius_decretal_to_himerius.htm
Way of the Fathers on the Pelagian heresy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/413-heresiespelagianism-and-seeds-calvinism/
Thomas V. Mirus is President of Trinity Communications and Editor-in-Chief for CatholicCulture.org, hosts both the Catholic Culture Podcast and Lives of the Popes, and co-hosts Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. See full bio.
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