When did the papacy start?

Answer 1

Jesus Christ appointed Peter as the first leader of his Church when He said:

And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That 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 upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matthew Chapt. 16)

Peter is considered the first pope even though the term 'pope' did not come into common usage until much later. Whether Peter was in Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome or elsewhere, he is still considered the first pope. Later, as the Church grew and a hierarchy developed. the Church established its headquarters in Rome as Rome was considered the center of the world at the time. It had good roads reaching out to the vast empire as well as ships that plied the Mediterranean. Missionaries could reach anywhere in the known world from Rome. As the pope was the highest ranking Church authority in Rome, he was automatically consider the Bishop of Rome. From 1309 until 1377 popes reigned from Avignon in France. No matter, the pope was still the pope. Once the situation was resolved, the papacy returned to Rome and the pope again resumed his position as the Bishop of Rome along with his title of Pope.

Even today, should Pope Francis make theunlikely decision to move the Church headquarters to, say, Buenos Aires, Argentina, he would still be Pope and the assigned Bishop of Rome would simply be the Bishop of Rome. The Pope would be the Bishop of Buenos Aires as well as pope of the Universal Church. The Church has ample evidence that Peter did rule from Rome at some time. But even if he had never stepped foot in the city, he was still the Pope. Being Bishop of Rome is not a prerequisite for the papacy. By default, if the pope is headquartered in Rome, he is also the bishop of that diocese.

Answer 2

Catholic tradition says that the papacy began when Saint Peter travelled to Rome to lead the Christian community there. Since Paul's letter to the Romans, usually dated to around 60 CE, does not mention Peter in Rome, Peter's arrival would necessarily be later than this.

However, not only does the evidence suggest that Peter never visited Rome, it is the consensus of scholars, both Catholic and non-Catholic, that the Christian community of Rome was led by a college of presbyters well into the second century. The papacy could not start until there was a more or less unbroken line of bishops in Rome, whether or not Peter had spent a short time in Rome. Moreover, the first known use of the term 'pope' as a specific title for the bishop of Rome occurred in the fourth century.

We can not rely on Matthew 16:17-19 ("Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my church"), since it is now known that the author of Matthew's Gospel based his account on Mark's Gospel, which in the parallel passage does not mention this. But even if we did, we should consider whether Peter's successors would be the bishops of Jerusalem, where Paul tells us Peter was based, or the Orthodox Patriarchs.

On the available evidence, the first bishop of Rome, whose tenure could be regarded as the start of the papacy, was appointed or elected some time well into the second century. We know that Anicetus was bishop of Rome around 150 CE, but there were probably previous bishops of Rome.

For more information on the early popes, please visit:

http://christianity.answers.com/catholicism/a-brief-history-of-the-early-popes

Answer 3

"Pope" as been a title used for the Holy Father, the supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church since the 11th century, officially. The first known example of this use is in the writings of St. Ennodius who died in 521 A.D. However, the papacy - the office which has been called that since the 11th century has existed since Our Blessed Lord founded the head of His Church on Peter (see Matthew 16:17-19). Peter went to Rome (he refers to it as Babylon in his writings (1 Peter 5:13), was executed there, and was buried on the Vatican hill. His tomb has been venerated since the earliest times, and when Christianity became legal, a Basilica was built over his tomb. To this day, you can go to Rome and see his tomb under the high altar in St. Peter's. Every single pope since then has been known as the "successor to St. Peter", and they have all resided in Rome as Bishop of that diocese. Peter's earliest successors were all canonized:

1.St. Peter (32-67)
2.St. Linus (67-76)
3.St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
4.St. Clement I (88-97)
5.St. Evaristus (97-105)
6.St. Alexander I (105-115)
7.St. Sixtus I (115-125) Also called Xystus I
8.St. Telesphorus (125-136)
9.St. Hyginus (136-140)
10.St. Pius I (140-155)
11.St. Anicetus (155-166)
12.St. Soter (166-175)
13.St. Eleutherius (175-189)
14.St. Victor I (189-199)
15.St. Zephyrinus (199-217)
16.St. Callistus I (217-22)
17.St. Urban I (222-30)
18.St. Pontain (230-35)
19.St. Anterus (235-36)
20.St. Fabian (236-50)
21.St. Cornelius (251-53)
22.St. Lucius I (253-54)
23.St. Stephen I (254-257)
24.St. Sixtus II (257-258)
25.St. Dionysius (260-268)
26.St. Felix I (269-274)
27.St. Eutychian (275-283)
28.St. Caius (283-296) Also called Gaius
29.St. Marcellinus (296-304)
30.St. Marcellus I (308-309)
31.St. Eusebius (309 or 310)
32.St. Miltiades (311-14)
33.St. Sylvester I (314-35)
34.St. Marcus (336)
35.St. Julius I (337-52)

The Holy Father is a successor of St. Peter, appointed by Our Blessed Lord, Himself, in St. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, verses 17-19. Please note that Our Blessed Lord, Himself, not only appointed St. Peter and his successors to this office, but personally guaranteed both his power to bind and loose, and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. To malign St. Peter's successor is to malign Our Blessed Lord Himself, and call Him a liar and unable to fulfill His promises.

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." (Lumen Gentium 23) "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercises unhindered." (Lumen Gentium 22; cf. Christus Dominus 2,9)