Pope

The history of the papacy is a major factor in history, especially the Middle Ages.

The Pope has been the head of the Roman Catholic Church for over 1000 years. The Eastern orthodox churches rejected his claims to primacy and broke away. Even more vigorously the Protestant Reformation reject the Papacy and his highly structured Church. The Pope controlled Rome and the Papal States in central Italy until 1870. The Pope now controls only the small Vatican city-state (located inside Rome), but has diplomatic relations with most nations. The Pope's power comes from his appointment of all the bishops in the Catholic Church, and from his ability (since 1870) to proclaim a theological doctrine infallibly. The history of the Popes is interwoven with the history of the Catholic Church, of Europe, and indeed much of the world. In terms of personalities, the 262 Popes have ranged very widely indeed. In recent centuries they have been holy men and in recent decades they have been linguists able to speak to Catholics in many languages.

Traditions

Catholic tradition argues that Christ told Peter to found a church. Protestants say the Biblical texts are too short and obscure to bear the weight of an elaborate infrastructure that was erected many centuries after Christ, and that the Papacy interferes with the direct relationship between Christ and the sinner. Indeed, the history of the Reformation is the history of the rejection of the Papacy, while the history of the Counter-Reformation is the history of its reform and partial restoration to power.

Biblical texts

Catholics emphasize that Jesus told Simon Peter:

thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Peter did found a church in Rome in 42 A.D. and served as the bishop for 25 years until 67 A.D. when he was martyred.

References

• Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, (3rd ed 2006), 496pp; Yale University Press; heavily illustrated
• Ralph J. Capio; "The Papacy: A Case Study in Organizational Longevity," Journal of European Studies, Vol. 26, 1996. online edition
• Catholic Encyclopedia, "The Pope" (1913) online edition
• Owen Chadwick. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. (1998), 616pp; a standard recent history. online edition,
• H. Daniel-Rops. The Church in the Eighteenth Century (1964)
• H. Daniel-Rops. The Church in an Age of Revolution (1965).
• E. E. Y. Hales. Revolution and Papacy, 1769-1846, (1960)
• Kelly, J.N.D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (1988). 349pp; scholarly short biographies; online edition
• Michael A. Mullett; The Catholic Reformation, (1999), online edition
• New Catholic 'Encyclopedia (1967)
• Pastor, Ludwig. History of the Popes From the Close of the Middle Ages, (1894-1930), 16 vol, older Catholic history online from books.google.com
• Walter Ullmann; A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, (2002), 393pp, online edition