From Princes to Managers Understanding the history of the Catholic episcopate

Article by By Massimo Faggioli https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/princes-managers

“Since the early modern period, with that gradual merging of feudal and administrative systems, there was also a steady expansion of the duties of bishops. With the centralization and bureaucratization of ecclesiastical power, episcopal roles and responsibilities came to resemble those of the civil magistrates of the early centuries of Christianity. A bishop was now something like the defensor civitatis, the defender of the community both in its religious and civil sense, with all the political-diplomatic duties and relationships inherent to it.”