The Middle Ages as the “global time” of the Papacy. An examination of the papal image

We are currently facing an extraordinary situation: two Popes coexist, one of whom is emeritus, after having abdicated in 2013 (more than seven hundred years after the most famous of medieval abdications, that of Celestine V in 1294), and the other still holds office. We have also recently experienced the canonization of three Popes and the promulgation of two jubilees (2000 and 2015). This rare situation has stimulated the artistic community that focuses on the figure of the Pope, who is undoubtedly the most important political personality and religious authority that the Middle Ages have handed down to contemporary times. In this regard, worthy of mention is the television series The Young Pope, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino (2016), which highlights the attenuation of the papal identity. The pope is presented there as having difficulty in appearing in public and having his image reproduced, “because his image does not exist”. The Italian director was inspired by a long-standing problem: the representation of the Pope, especially since Innocent III (1198-1216), has constituted a particular iconographic question owing to a semantic complexity determined by ecclesiological implications. From the images on the apses of Roman basilicas to modern portraits, taking in the medieval bust of Boniface VIII, the effigies of the French popes of Avignon and schismatic popes, we focus on the medieval tradition that hides behind the papal politics through images of real and imaginary Popes from both modern and contemporary times. At the same time, we discuss the representation of the Church as a personification or symbol before considering the representation of the Church as a Pope. Finally, we conclude with the birth and figurative affirmation, starting from 1417, of a third iconographic subject: the Council that determined the end of the apical Pope/Church dualism.