« UNAM SANCTAM ». — During the conflict that divided Filippo IV il Bello and Bonifacio VIII, the latter published, on 18 November 1302, a bull dealing with the relations between temporal and spiritual power.
[In its theoretical section, the Pope subordinated civil authority to the Church and attributed to the latter the right to judge it in the event of “deviation.” The dogmatic conclusion was as follows: “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that the submission of every human creature to the Roman Pontiff is necessary for salvation.” The bull gave rise to controversy. Some did not consider it authentic (P. Mury, La bulle Unam Sanctam, in Revue des questions historiques, 26 [1879], pp. 91–130), while others regarded it as the work of Egidio Romano (J. Rivière, Le problème de l'Église et de l'Etat au temps de Philippe-le-Bel, Louvain 1926, pp. 394–404). The bull, however, is perfectly authentic and appears in the Papal Registers (G. Digart, Les Registres de Boniface VIII [Bibl. Ec. Franç. Athén. et Rome, 2ª serie, IV], Paris 1884–1935, no. 5382, and H. Denifle, Specimina paleografica, Rome 1888, pl. XLVI); nor is there any evidence permitting its attribution to Egidio Romano, although its redactor seems to have made use of the latter’s treatise De ecclesiastica potestate.
The dogmatic definition promulgated by Bonifacio VIII is general in character and names no one in particular. It contains no allusion to the reasons behind it and does not decide the question of the relations between the spiritual and the temporal, which therefore remains undetermined. Nor does the definition introduce any innovations; rather, it accords with the doctrine professed by S. Tommaso d'Aquino.