Pope

=== Early Christianity ({{circa|30–325}}) ===

Sources suggest that at first, the terms {{transliteration|grc|episcopos}} and ''presbyter'' were used interchangeably,<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', 1997 edition revised 2005, p. 211</ref> with the consensus among scholars being that by the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters, whose duties of office overlapped or were indistinguishable from one another.<ref>''Cambridge History of Christianity'', volume 1, 2006</ref> Some{{who|date=January 2022}} say that there was probably "no single 'monarchical' bishop in Rome before the middle of the 2nd century...and likely later."<ref>''Cambridge History of Christianity'', volume 1, 2006, p. 418</ref>

In the early Christian era, Rome and a few other cities had claims on the leadership of worldwide Church. [[James the Just]], known as "the brother of the Lord", served as head of the [[Jerusalem]] church, which is still honoured as the "Mother Church" in Orthodox tradition. [[Alexandria]] had been a center of Jewish learning and became a center of Christian learning. Rome had a large congregation early in the apostolic period whom Paul the Apostle addressed in his [[Epistle to the Romans]], and according to tradition Paul was martyred there.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Saint Paul the Apostle {{!}} Biography & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle|access-date=22 January 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=30 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430191730/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/447019/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle/259968/Life|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the 1st century of the Church ({{circa|30–130}}), the Roman capital became recognized as a Christian center of exceptional importance. The church there, at the end of the century, wrote an epistle to the Church in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] intervening in a major dispute, and apologizing for not having taken action earlier.<ref>Chadwick, Henry, ''Oxford History of Christianity'', Oxford University Press, quote: "Towards the latter part of the 1st century, Rome's presiding cleric, named Clement, wrote on behalf of his church to remonstrate with the Corinthian Christians who had ejected clergy without either financial or charismatic endowment in favor of a fresh lot; Clement apologized not for intervening but for not having acted sooner. Moreover, during the 2nd century the Roman community's leadership was evident in its generous alms to poorer churches. About 165, they erected monuments to their martyred apostles, to Peter in a necropolis on the Vatican Hill, to Paul on the road to Ostia, at the traditional sites of their burial. Roman bishops were already conscious of being custodians of the authentic tradition of true interpretation of the apostolic writings. In the conflict with Gnosticism Rome played a decisive role, and likewise in the deep division in Asia Minor created by the claims of the Montanist prophets."</ref> There are a few other references of that time to recognition of the [[Primacy of the Bishop of Rome|authoritative primacy]] of the [[Holy See|Roman See]] outside of Rome.

In the [[Declaration of Ravenna|Ravenna Document]] of 13 October 2007, theologians chosen by the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches stated:

{{blockquote|41. Both sides agree{{nbsp}}[...] that Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/244/Letter_of_Ignatius_of_Antioch_to_the_Romans.html |title=Letter of Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans: Prologue |publisher=Crossroads Productions |access-date=22 May 2013 |archive-date=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708205615/http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/244/Letter_of_Ignatius_of_Antioch_to_the_Romans.html |url-status=live }}</ref> occupied the first place in the {{lang|la|taxis}}, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the {{lang|la|protos}} among the patriarchs. Translated into English, the statement means "first among equals".

What form that should take is still a matter of disagreement, just as it was when the Catholic and Orthodox Churches split in the Great East-West Schism. They also disagree on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as {{lang|la|protos}}, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.<ref name=vatican>{{cite web|title=Ravenna Document |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20071013_documento-ravenna_en.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013709/http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20071013_documento-ravenna_en.html |archive-date=12 November 2020 |work=Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church|publisher=Vatican Publishing House|accessdate=24 July 2021|date=13 October 2007}}</ref>}}

In AD 195, Pope Victor I, in what is seen as an exercise of Roman authority over other churches, excommunicated the [[Quartodecimans]] for observing Easter on the 14th of [[Nisan]], the date of the Jewish [[Passover]], a tradition handed down by [[John the Evangelist]] (see [[Easter controversy]]). Celebration of Easter on a Sunday, as insisted on by the pope, is the system that has prevailed (see [[computus]]).