Dictatus Papae issued

February 24, 1075

In a memorandum never formally promulgated but widely circulated, Gregory VII listed twenty-seven extraordinary claims: the pope alone could depose emperors, bishops, and even saints; no synod was ecumenical without his approval; the Roman church had never erred. It was a manifesto of papal monarchy. Whether a working document or a statement of principle, it articulated a vision of absolute papal authority unprecedented in Church history.