(October 4, 2022 at 3:36 pm)Fake Messiah Wrote:(October 4, 2022 at 2:51 pm)Jehanne Wrote: My other thread gave me an idea:
Pope John XXVIII dies without a successor -- Catholic Church now claims that Jesus never instituted the Office of the Papacy.
So does that mean that papacy was an interpolation done by Caesars to introduce Pontifex Maximus?
Not to mention that if one believes that historical Jesus was just some apocalyptic preacher, as you do, then he didn't plan to have some (long-lasting) organization like Church since the end is nigh.
In my opinion, the early Church imitated the Roman Empire, and the Pope gradually gained power in the West, especially, after the ending of the Western Roman Empire. With no Emperor in the West, there was a political vacuum, which the Papacy began to take advantage of.
