France and England were financing their wars by taxing the clergy. This practice was forbidden by Canon Law without papal consent. On February 25, 1296, Pope Boniface VIII issued a famous bull, Clericis laicos, to stop this practice. King Philip the Fair of France retaliated by prohibiting the export of gold, negotiable currency, and other valuables to France upon which revenues the pope depended. Pope Boniface VIII backed down, and in 1297 empowered King Philip the Fair of France to impose the tax on clergy – in case of need – without consulting the Holy See.

Meanwhile, the Colonna family, once a staunch supporter of Pope Boniface VIII, has resented his autocratic style and his subsequent election to the papacy following the resignation of Pope Clementine V. In retaliation, Pope Boniface VIII ordered the two Colonna cardinals to hand over three family castles; and when they refused, Pope Boniface VIII excommunicated them.

Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed 1300 a year of Jubilee (the first Holy Year) and granted plenary indulgences (the remission of temporal punishment in Purgatory) to the tens of thousands of pilgrims to Rome. It was at this time that he began to occasionally dress in imperial regalia and exclaim, “I am Caesar, I am the Emperor.” He commissioned so many statues of himself that he was accused of encouraging idolatry.

When King Philip the Fair of France imprisoned the bishop of Parmiers, France, Pope Boniface VIII believed that King Philip encroached upon his spiritual authority. Pope Boniface VIII then summoned thirty-nine French bishops to a synod in Rome. King Philip ordered the bishops not to attend. When they did attend the synod, King Philip of France promptly confiscated their property.

On November 18, 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued his most famous bull, Unam Sanctam (One Holy). He declared sole power over all spiritual and temporal matters, “…it is altogether necessary to the salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

King Philip the Fair of France responded with personal attacks on Pope Boniface VIII – of illegitimacy, sexual misconduct, and usurping the papal office. Pope Boniface VIII then excommunicated King Philip and moved from Rome to his hometown, Anagni.

It was then that mercenaries from the Colonna family stormed Pope Boniface VIII’s Anagni palace and arrested him. Three days after his arrest, however, the citizens of Anagni rescued Pope Boniface VIII and drove off his captors. Pope Boniface VIII eventually returned to Rome under the protection of his supporters.

On October 11 or 12, 1303, Pope Boniface VIII, tired of the constant turmoil in his papacy, died a broken man and was buried in a crypt in Saint Peter’s Basilica.