2023-12-29 02:00:00
Enmity with the spirit of this world
By refusing to support the plans of Henry II, who was in a political campaign to make the Church of England subject to royal power, Archbishop Becket opted for exile in France. There he gained the protection of both the French monarch and Pope Alexander III, who persuaded Henry II to make peace with him. Unfortunately, after returning to their homeland, tensions between the two Englishmen restarted.
When King Henry learned that the Holy Father had excommunicated a group of recalcitrant English bishops against Rome – these had spoken out in favor of the monarch’s authoritarian plan and, in addition, had usurped the prerogatives of the Archbishop of Canterbury -, the rage took hold of him. That anger increased even more when the king found that good Thomas remained intransigent in his position of not subjecting the Church to temporal power. For the saint, the admonished prelates had to request the Pontiff’s forgiveness and promise renewed obedience to his investiture.
The tension between London and Rome would increase, to the point that, one day, King Henry II expressed his impotence loudly, in front of his entire court. He said in reference to Becket: “Is there no one to deliver me from this turbulent priest?”
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