Some popes had many critics

Some Catholics seem to believe that fellow believers are heretics if they so much as raise an eyebrow after the pope says something.

Over the years, many Bishops of Rome would have considered themselves lucky to live in an era such as ours when even mild criticism of the pope is frowned upon.

Consider St. Damasus I, who was probably born in Rome in about 304. His father, who may have been Spanish, was a priest in the church where Damasus, who never married, served as a deacon. Later, Damasus was priest of what became the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome.

He served under Pope Liberius (352-366) and even went into exile with him. After Liberius' death, Damasus was chosen Bishop of Rome in a bitterly contested election. In turn, the opposition minority faction insisted that the office belonged to their candidate, Ursinus, who became an antipope.

Eventually, after a great deal of cruelty and violence, including fighting in two basilicas, Ursinus was exiled by Emperor Valentinian. Even then, the opposition remained active and in 378, they brought charges against him, but the Roman Synod found in his favor.

As pope, Damasus enforced Valentinian's edict of 370 forbidding widows and orphans from giving gifts to bishops. He vigorously opposed Arianism, a heresy that denied the divinity of Jesus.

In 381, he sent an emissary to the General Council of Constantinople, which condemned - again - Arianism, and denounced the teaching of Macedonius that the Holy Spirit is not divine.

A year earlier, the Eastern Emperor, Theodosius the Great, and the Western Emperor, Gratian, proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Damasus also was a scripture scholar. He asked St. Jerome to begin working on his biblical commentaries and his translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate. He also specified which were the authentic books of the Bible in accordance with a decree issued by a Roman council in 374. He also made Latin the principal liturgical language.

Damasus also proclaimed Rome to be the leader of all churches in Catholicism, restored the catacombs, shrines, tombs and relics of the martyrs - because of his work he is patron of archaeologists - and encouraged believers to make pilgrimages to Rome.

Despite his many successes, he only had moderate success in resolving a misunderstanding between the Eastern and Western churches over Trinitarian terminology used by Rome.

St. Damasus died in 384 on Dec. 11, the day on which we celebrate his feast. As we remember him that day, it would be well to keep in mind all that he did that centuries later still affects how we think of the church, the papacy and Rome.

Sources: Butler's Lives of the Saints, Dictionary of Saints, Saint of the Day and 365 Saints