Ruler of Princes and Kings
As Innocent III had before him, Innocent IV saw himself as the Vice-regent of the Almighty, Whose power was above earthly kings. Innocent, therefore, had no objection to intervening in purely secular matters. He appointed Afonso III administrator of Portugal, and lent his protection to Ottokar, the son of the King of Bohemia. The Pope even sided with King Henry III against both nobles and bishops of England, despite the king's harassment of Edmund Rich and his policy of having church money collected in vacant benefices delivered to the royal coffers.
The warlike tendencies of the Tartars also concerned the Pope, and he sent a papal nuncio to the Mongol Empire in an attempt to strike an agreement. Innocent decreed that he, as Vicar of Christ, could make non-Christians accept his dominion and even exact punishment should they violate the non-God centered commands of the Ten Commandments. This policy was held more in theory than in practice and was eventually repudiated centuries later.
Read more about this topic: Pope Innocent IV
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