Rebuilding Rome: Sermons in Stone and the Restoration of Papal Power

Following the damage done by the Avignon Papacy and the Great Western Schism, the papacy returned to a decaying Rome. Pope Nicholas V realized that restoring the authority of the church required more than spiritual declarations; it demanded a visual show of magnificence and power. Nicholas began his building program to overhaul crumbling city infrastructure, inspire awe and maintain authority over an illiterate laity, and tie the majesty of Rome to the papacy. When Constantinople fell in 1453, critics openly questioned spending fortunes on splendor instead of defending Christendom. As his successors expanded this building program over the following decades, escalating construction costs and the need for additional revenue contributed to the sale of indulgences, helping turn Nicholas V’s architectural master plan into a catalyst for the crisis that eventually erupted in Martin Luther’s protest and the Protestant Reformation.