The Roman Catholic Papacy is one of the oldest institutions in the world, second only to the

Cresanthamum throne in Japan. Since its inception, there have been 266 popes and a couple

of anti-Popes as well.

The Pope is not only the head of a religion, but also the leader of a sovereign, albeit small, state.

The process of choosing a Pope is unlike any other in the world.

Learn more about the selection process for picking a new Pope

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Audible.

If you're interested in recent paper history, the

audio book I would recommend is The Two Popes, Francis Benedict and the decision

that shook the world by Anthony McCarthen. The Two Popes tells the story of the decision of Benedict the

16th to resign and the election of Pope Francis I. Written by the screenwriter

of the movie of the same name, it tells the story of how two popes ended up living in the same building.

You can get a free one month trial to audible and two free audio books by going to

Audible Trial.com slash everything everywhere

or by clicking on the link in the show notes.

Officially, there isn't a thing called the Pope.

The Pope is just the English word for what the Italians in Spanish

call Papa or the French call Pop. The official title is The Bishop of Rome. How

the Bishop of Rome has changed greatly over time, with more formal and codified procedures coming into place as time advanced.

Tradition holds that St. Peter was the first Bishop of Rome. After leaving Jerusalem he worked his way over to Rome where he was

executed around 64 to 67 CE. It isn't clear how the popes immediately after Peter were

selected but we do know they weren't called popes or even bishops at that point.

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