From 1309 to 1378 , the popes of the Roman Catholic church did not sit in Rome. Which city was the seat of the papacy?

For nearly seventy years, the center of Western Christendom was not the Vatican but a city in southern France. This dramatic relocation began in 1309 due to intense conflict between the French monarchy and the papacy. After the election of a French pope, Clement V, he chose to move the papal court to avoid the political turmoil and factional violence that plagued Rome at the time. The chosen (Review) city, Avignon, was technically papal territory but was surrounded by French lands, placing the popes firmly under the influence of the powerful French crown.

This era is famously known as the "Avignon Papacy" or, more critically, the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy." The latter term, coined by the Italian scholar Petrarch, compared the popes' absence from Rome to the biblical exile of the Jews in Babylon. During this time, all seven popes who reigned from Avignon were French. They transformed the city, building the magnificent and fortress-like Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) as the new administrative and spiritual heart of the church.

While the move was initially a political solution, it greatly damaged the prestige and authority of the papacy throughout Europe, as it was widely seen as a puppet of the French king. The eventual return of the papacy to Rome in 1377 was not a smooth transition. In fact, the lingering French influence and political divisions stemming from the Avignon period directly triggered the Western Schism, a crisis where multiple rival popes claimed the throne, further dividing the church for decades.