K

boner

The Pope is the Catholic bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches (note that the name within the communion is simply "the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church"). In addition to this spiritual role, the Pope is also head of the independent, sovereign State of the Vatican City, a city-state entirely surrounded by the city of Rome. Prior to 1870, the Pope's temporal authority extended over a large area of central Italy, a territory formally known as the "Patrimony of St Peter" under the terms of the Donation of Constantine, but more familiar as the Papal States. The office of the Pope is informally called the Papacy and formally called the Pontificate; his ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the Holy See (Sancta Sedes). Catholics worldwide consider each pope to be Jesus' representative on Earth.

The reigning Pope is Pope John Paul II, who was elected at the age of 58 in 1978. He is the first non-Italian to be elected to the Pontificate since Adrian VI, who was briefly pope in 1522-23.