Why did the Catholic Church ban the crossbow in the 11th century?

by TheDoors1

And how effective was the ban? How long did it last?

tiredstars

There are some comments on this subject from /u/MI13 here, and possibly some more in the archive. It's very interesting because of the idea that the ban (on using missile weapons against christians) wasn't really expected to be followed (and it wasn't) but was intended to reinforce the authority of the Papacy.