06-03-2009, 02:49 PM
Quote:THe first pope is debated. The Catholic church says that it was St. Peter, others dissagree. I didnt find who everyone else thinks was the first pope.
The question of "first pope" is ambiguous, as it can mean several things: First bishop of Rome, first bishop to call himself "papa" or "father of fathers", first pontiff or first bishop of Rome to claim primacy. According to tradition, first to call himself "papa" or "papa abba" was Heraclas, bishop of Alexandria, in 232 CE. First "Vicar of Christ" was pope Gelasius I in 495, advocating papal supremacy among christian patriarchs, a doctrine already advanced by pope Leo I (440-461). Some claim that the first "pope" was Boniface III (607), who sought and obtained a decree from emperor Phocas which restated that "the See of Blessed Peter the Apostle should be the head of all the Churches".
The title of supreme (or universal) pontiff (Pontifex Maximus) was officially abandoned by emperor Gratian in 382, after which it was appropriated by bishops of Rome at some unknown time: Damasus I (366-384), Leo I and Gregory I (590-604) are all mentioned in various encyclopaedias. The word pontifex, however, appears at least twice in latin texts before that: Tertullian applies it to Callixtus I, emperor Theodosius' decree from 380 already calls Damasus a pontifex, not an episcopus.
Jona Lendering has already tactfully answered the question about Peter as first bishop of Rome.
