mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Eleanor Herman
of papa, or father. Pope Siricius (reigned 384–399) was the first pontiff to
claim that title for himself alone, though bishops in the Eastern Empire
kept it until 1059.
According to tradition, Peter, knowing he would be martyred, appointed
his successor, Linus, to tend his little flock of ragtag Christians
in Rome. It is possible that dozens of popes after Peter also named their
successors. When Christianity was legalized in the fourth century, the
Roman senate, the clergy, and the people of Rome participated in the
bishop’s election, though we are at a loss to understand exactly how voting
was done by such an unruly crowd.
In the first millennium of Christianity, any churchman, even a simple
monk or priest, could be elected pope. But after Pope Nicholas II
decreed in 1059 that only cardinals could elect the pontiff, they usually
elected one of themselves, and since 1389 they have always done so.
Just as the papal election process changed over the centuries, so did
the qualities required to be pontiff. In Christianity’s first centuries the
perfect pope was a man of deep faith who would willingly suffer martyrdom
at the hands of pagan Roman emperors in their periodic persecutions.
Given the likelihood of being thrown to the lions, there were
fewer candidates for the position. Once Constantine legalized Christianity,
the church became big business and more men vied for the job.
Now the pope was a CEO; he must possess top administrative skills to
spread the faith, appoint church leaders, build churches, manage money,
and develop dogma.
When the last Roman emperor abdicated in a.d. 476, the remaining
emperor was in far-off Constantinople. Sometimes he sent troops to
help Rome, but more often he did nothing, having enough problems to
deal with closer to home. As a result, the Roman people looked to the
only authority figure in town—the pope—to perform the duties of a
secular official. Instead of focusing on religion, the pope was now expected
to feed the hungry, police the unruly, provide laws, and fend off
invading barbarian hordes. Over the course of the next millennium,
several popes strapped on armor and rode into battle against enemies.
By the Renaissance, the ideal pope was supposed to encourage the
arts and letters. Nicholas V (reigned 1447–1455) founded the Vatican
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