Pope

The Pope ("Name means::papa") is regarded as the successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. Prior to 1870, the Pope's temporal authority extended over a large area of central Italy, a territory formally known as the Papal States.

The office of the Pope is called the Papacy and formally called the Pontificate; his ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the Holy See.