God Bless the Pope

We owe the catholic church in ways that we don't think about. The extended campaign against cousin marriage near the end of the middle ages may have been one of the primary reasons for european advancement. It prevented factionalism, family fueds, and a very large and powerful extended families. It allowed individuals to exist within a smaller and less powerful family unit, which allowed such things as semi-objectivity, ascertaining quality, a limitation to corruption, and the birth of patriotism.