Popes

A:

Those who believe that Saint Peter was the first pope, or bishop of Rome, also believe that he was crucified upside-down, on the orders of Emperor Nero. Normal crucifixion would cause death, generally over a period of several days, from asphyxiation, as the victim is no longer able to breath while hanging from his arms. In the upside down position, this would not apply, so the crucifixion would probably not directly cause death, although exposure and starvation would eventually take their toll. I suspect this would be a more humane way of dying than by normal crucifixion.

There is no actual evidence that Peter ever went to Rome, so it is possible that Peter never was reall the first leader of the Christians in Rome. Scholars say we do not know how he died.

Catholic Answer:

The Catholic Church has taught the tradition of Saint Peter dying in Rome by crucifixion for nearly 2000 years and there is evidence to support this in the Bible itself. See the links below. Since the Catholic Church did write the New Testament, I tend to believe their explanation rather than a Protestant interpretation. Of course, for those who believe, no proof is necessary and for those who do not believe, no proof is possible.

As to being crucified upside down, I doubt if it would have prolonged life but would have cut it drastically short. Looking back on my college biology I seem to remember that the human circulatory system is primarily designed to work properly in the upright or prone position and not upside down. In a short time the blood would begin to pool in the head and cause severe cerebral and cardiac difficulties.

Actually, it would have made little difference had Peter never gone to Rome. He was still the appointed leader of the Church and his successor, whether in Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem or Chicago, would be the apostolic successor of Peter. Peter chose Rome since Rome was considered the "center of the world" at the time. All roads lead to Rome, as the saying goes.

By the way, the author of the article cited in the first link below, Dr. Taylor Marshall. was an Episcopal priest until be converted to Catholicism a few years back.

The forgery known as the Donation of Constantine both strengthened and weakened the papacy. It was used to manipulate political power, to create and control the papal states and to have the papacy accepted as the supreme temporal power in western Europe.

It strengthened the papacy by ensuring that popes, from the eighth century onwards, had access to enormous wealth and could live in such luxury that even the most important kings could not match. Before the creation of this forgery, the papacy was at risk of becoming defunct, as there were few clerics interested in taking on such an unrewarding and dangerous position.

At the same time, it weakened the papacy by making it no more than a prize to be fought over by the factions and warlords of Italy. Whoever gained the papacy and became pope was expected to shower family and friends with wealth from the Church's enormous income and, for this reason alone, became the focus of bitter rivalry. Russell Chamberlin (The Bad Popes) describes how the Church was spiritually weakened as pope after pope took on the office for personal gain and proceeded to live lives of debauchery and vice.

This question presupposes that the pope only has three jobs or roles. Depending on how you define a job or role the list may be longer or shorter.

In generally the pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

The current titles for Pope Benedict XVI are:

* Bishop of Rome

* Vicar of Christ

* Successor of the Prince of the Apostles

* Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church

* Primate of Italy

* Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province

* Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City

* Servant of the Servants of God

Many of these are laudatory but some have separate and specific responsibilities, and it is election to "Bishop of Rome" that actually confers papacy. Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City is a political title and confers him as a head of state, albeit for a very small country-Vatican City.

Most would agree that Popes have three major roles:

Politically and Diplomatically they are the head of state for Vatican City.

Managerially they run the Roman Catholic Church, an extensive global organization.

Theologically they are the ultimate authority on theological matters for the Roman Catholic Church.

A complete description of each of these roles is beyond this answer, but Wikipedia has a good section that covers it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope

A:

We can never know all of the popes who had children, because of the practice by senior clergy of referring to their illegitimate sons as nephews, in order to maintain the fiction of celibacy. In some cases, it is clear that a so-called 'nephew' was really an illegitimate son; in other cases, it is equally clear that the younger man was certainly a nephew and therefore not a son; while sometimes there is no certainty whether or not the 'nephew' was an illegitimate son of a particular pope.

Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was the 'nephew' of Pope Clement III, and his own nephew was destined to become Pope Gregory IX, whose nephew in turn became Pope Alexander IV. Given the moral tone of the Vatican during much of the Middle Ages, it is quite possible that the four popes just mentioned all formed a dynastic line from father to son.

Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492) was the first pope to openly acknowledge his illegitimate children, although he only had two - a girl and a boy.