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The Roman church was a small community, and its bishop exercised little influence outside its members in the time of Constantine. Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity, although he likely continued in his pre-Christian beliefs.
Plaque commemorating the popes buried in St. Peter's Basilica (their names in Latin and the year of their burial). This chronological list of popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani" (The Roman Supreme Pontiffs), excluding those that are explicitly indicated as antipopes.
According to numerous records of the early Church Fathers, Peter was present in Rome, was martyred there, and was the first bishop of Rome. Dogma and traditions of the Catholic Church maintain that he served as the bishop of Rome for 25 years until 67 AD when he was martyred by Nero [7] (further information: Great Fire of Rome).
During the Early Church, the bishops of Rome enjoyed no temporal power until the time of Constantine. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire about 476, the medieval papacy was influenced by the temporal rulers of Italy; these periods are known as the Ostrogothic Papacy , Byzantine Papacy , and Frankish Papacy .
Bishops of the Early Christian Church up to the year 100, ... 1st-century bishops in the Roman Empire (6 C, ... (bishop) H. Hermas of Dalmatia; M ...
Nero persecuted Roman Christians after Rome burned in 64, and the congregation may have suffered further persecution under Domitian (81–96). Clement was the first of early Rome's most notable bishops. [28] The Liber Pontificalis, which documents the reigns of popes, states that Clement had known Peter.
From the early 6th century, it began to be confined in the West to the Bishop of Rome, a practice that was firmly in place by the 11th century, when Pope Gregory VII declared it reserved for the Bishop of Rome. [citation needed] As bishop of the Church of Rome, he is successor to the co-patrons of that local church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul. [27]
'father') [2] [3] is the bishop of Rome and the visible head [a] of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, [b] Roman pontiff, [c] or sovereign pontiff. From the eighth century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States, and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City state.