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The Rise of the Papacy

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 9, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 2.

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The Rise of the Papacy

The first step in the rise of the papacy therefore was necessarily the complete downfall of the Western Empire of Rome, which, as we have seen, took place under Romulus Augustus, A. D. 476. From that time forth the claims of the bishops of Rome increased continually, based at first on the metropolitan character of the see of Rome, and by degrees on more supernatural and spiritual grounds. But their claims to supremacy over other bishops received no legal sanction until A. D. 533, when, by his celebrated decretal letters, the Eastern Roman Emperor, Justinian, recognized the bishop of Rome as “head of all the holy churches, and all the holy priests of God.” “The Approaching End of the Age,” by H. Gratton Guinness, Fourth Edition, London, 1880, pages 374, 375.