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Context: The Church reacted ambivalently to early European polyphony: many clergy condemned it as impious, distracting, and too closely tied to secular music, leading Pope John XXII to ban polyphony from the liturgy in 1322 and warn against its “lascivious” qualities. However, attitudes varied some popes, like Clement VI, embraced it, and by the 14th century polyphonic Mass settings like Machaut’s were accepted. Later, the Second Vatican Council affirmed Gregorian chant as primary but allowed polyphony as a legitimate form of sacred music.