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How did Frederick IIā€™s conflicts with the papacy weaken the Holy Roman Empire?

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Map of Europe about 800 CE showing the extent of the Frankish kingdom under Charlemagne in light purple, covering much of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, and neighboring regions. Areas inhabited by Slavic peoples who were tributary to Charlemagne are shaded in a darker purple to the east of the Frankish kingdom, including groups such as the Bohemians, Moravians, and Croats. Major cities, rivers, and neighboring kingdoms are labeled for context.
Holy Roman Empire

Frederick IIā€™s prolonged conflicts with the papacy significantly weakened the Holy Roman Empire by forcing the emperor to sacrifice central authority to secure support for his Italian ambitions.12

To maintain his focus on Italy and counter papal opposition, Frederick II made far-reaching concessions to German princes, notably through the Privilegium in favorem principum ecclesiasticorum (1220) and the Statutum in favorem principum (1232). These measures effectively transferred power from the central imperial government to local principalities, hindering the development of a unified state in Germany.12

The struggle also intensified the division between Guelf and Ghibelline factions, which fueled chronic instability within Italian cities and undermined imperial control over the region. Following Frederickā€™s excommunication in 1239 and deposition in 1245, his inability to decisively defeat the Lombard League or the papacy left the empire vulnerable. His death in 1250 precipitated a long interregnum, which effectively dismantled the medieval imperial structure and left the empire as a loose federation of princes rather than a centralized power.312