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The Pope—A History
To complement the topical study entitled “A Catholic Question,” which was written my Rick Michelena, a senior pilot for Continental Airlines, and posted on www.bibleone.net, this brief history is presented. It is taken from the well-documented book entitled While Men Slept . . . A Biblical and Historical Account of the New Universal Christianity by Kerby F. Fannin, Ph.D., second edition, Life’s Resources, Inc., 2002. The book is a recommended reading by www.bibleone.net.
After Dr. Fannin introduces the reader to the conquest of Constantine (A.D. c.272-337), who had reportedly converted to Christianity, seized power in A.D. 312 to become the new Roman Emperor, he continued as follows:
Constantine sought to bring the religions of the pagans and the Christians into a state of unity. He believed such unity would help stabilize the destabilized Roman Empire. In other words, Constantine sought to unify the pagans and the Christians by bringing them into one religion. To accomplish his goal, he ended the era of Christian persecution that had recently preceded his rise to power. Many who could not agree with his plan to unify the pagans with the Christians were exiled or worse.
Being a practicing pagan, Constantine exerted great pressure to include certain pagan traditions into the Christian church. Constantine gave himself the title held by the chief priest of the Roman pagan religion, “Pontifex Maximus.” The modern word, pontiff, which the pope is also called, was derived from the office of Pontifex Maximus. Thus, under Constantine, the Christian church became part of the state.
Once Constantine was able to get agreement among key figures in the religious world, he declared that he had established the “universal” or “catholic” church. Since there could be only one universal church, as declared by the great authority of the Roman Empire, it became known as the Catholic Church. As the authority of the Roman Empire declined, the authority of the Catholic Church rose.
Leo I (A.D. c.400-461), called “The Great,” was the bishop of Rome from A.D. 440 to 461. He established the primacy of the bishop of Rome over the other bishops. At the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451 Leo I, asserting his authority by virtue of apostolic succession, declared that “Peter has spoken through Leo.” By asserting that Jesus had given Peter all authority, Leo concluded that, by apostolic succession, all authority was then his. Leo saw himself as the supreme ruler and teacher.
Thus, through the union of the Roman Empire, which had all secular power, and the Catholic Church, which Leo claimed had all religious power, there was no other power on earth. Leo I even got Emperor Valentinian III to issue an edict that commanded all to obey the bishop of Rome. By A.D. 494, Leo’s successor, Gelasius, declared that the Roman Church ruled the whole world, including the Emperor. The bishop of Rome acquired the distinctive title, “the” pope, near the beginning of the sixth century. Before then, other metropolitan bishops had each been called “papa” or “pope.” |