"The history of the papacy, the office held by the pope as head of the Catholic Church, spans from the time of Peter to the present ...
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In the first three centuries of the Christian era, many of Peter's successors as bishops of Rome are obscure figures, most suffering martyrdom along with members of their flock in periods of persecution. During the Early Church, the bishops of Rome enjoyed no temporal power until the time of Constantine. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire about 476, the medieval papacy was influenced by the temporal rulers of Italy; these periods are known as the Ostrogothic Papacy, Byzantine Papacy, and Frankish Papacy. Over time, the papacy consolidated its territorial claims to a portion of the peninsula known as the Papal States. Thereafter, the role of neighboring sovereigns was replaced by powerful Roman families during the saeculum obscurum, the Crescentii era, and the Tusculan Papacy." - (en.wikipedia.org 04.10.2023)
