Papacy

The Papacy is presented in Raphael Hythloday’s account less through its internal organization than through the authority attributed to it in public affairs and religious practice. Its influence is described as crossing the boundary between spiritual governance and political conduct: it is said to encourage rulers to keep their promises, to enforce that obligation when milder appeals fail, and to supply the authority from which Christian priestly office might derive.

Treaties and Political Authority

Raphael contrasts the Utopians’ refusal to enter alliances with European reliance on treaties. He says that in Europe, especially among peoples who receive Christian doctrine, treaties are regarded as sacred and inviolable partly because of the justice and goodness of princes and partly because of the reverence paid to the Papacy. In his account, the Papacy exhorts rulers to honor their promises and can compel them through pastoral censure when less severe methods do not work.

That favorable description is set against Raphael’s report of treaty-breaking elsewhere. He describes agreements framed with deliberate ambiguity so rulers can exploit loopholes, and notes the double standard by which conduct condemned as fraud in private dealings is defended as royal policy. The passage makes the Papacy part of a claimed institutional safeguard for public promises, while leaving the effectiveness of that safeguard in tension with the broader political world Raphael depicts.

Authority and the Utopian Converts

The Papacy also enters the account through the Utopians’ response to Christianity. After hearing about Christ, his teaching, and the constancy of the martyrs, many Utopians accept baptism. Raphael and the surviving companions who are with him are not priests, however, and can baptize but cannot administer the other sacraments, which the account says require priests. The converts are instructed about those rites and strongly desire to receive them.

The converts debate whether a person they choose as a priest would be qualified to perform the duties of that office without authority derived from the Papacy. They appear ready to appoint priests themselves, but have not done so by the time Raphael leaves. The question thus presents the Papacy as a possible source of clerical authorization, while showing that the new community has not settled whether such external authorization is indispensable.

Scope and Significance

These episodes give the Papacy a dual place in the account: it is invoked as a guarantor of fidelity among Christian rulers and considered as a source of religious authority by a community newly receiving Christianity. In both cases its significance is described through the conduct it may authorize or regulate, rather than through details of its offices or administration.

The contrast is especially sharp in the Utopian discussion of religious practice. The converts seek access to sacraments, yet the question of who may be a priest remains open; elsewhere in Raphael’s description, different religions coexist under rules that protect peaceful persuasion. The account therefore distinguishes reverence for the Papacy’s claimed authority from a settled decision to place Utopian religious life under it.