Pope
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The pope is the bishop of Rome and the head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope wa
Gregory the Great (c. 540–604), in a painting by Carlo Saraceni, c. 1610, Rome
As part of the Catholic Reformation, Pope Paul III (1534–1549) initiated the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which established the triumph of the papacy over those who sought to reconcile with Protestants or oppose papal claims.
A fresco of Eliakim in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
The Delivery of the Keys, by Pietro Perugino, 1481
Pope John Paul II
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Pope John Paul II was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century,
Pope
…Church leadership roles. The current regulations regarding a sede vacante ("vacant seat", literally 'while the see is vacant') were promulgated by Pope John Paul II in his 1996 document Universi Dominici Gregis. Sede vacante is a papal interregnum, the period between the death or resignation of a pope and the…
John Paul II in 1988
The wedding portrait of John Paul II's parents, Emilia and Karol Wojtyła Sr.
Wojtyła on the day of his first communion
Wojtyła (second from right) in a Baudienst forced labour work crew during the occupation of Poland (1939–1945), c. 1941