Papacy and Church Order

56 eventsShow on the timeline

How the church has been governed: apostles, bishops and elders, the rise of the bishop of Rome, the patriarchates, and the differing orders of the churches today.

All Christians agree that the church needs ministry and oversight; they differ on its form. This thread follows the emergence of bishops, the claims made for the see of Rome and the responses to them in East and West, the patriarchates of the Orthodox world, and the forms of government adopted by the churches of the Reformation.

The thread from start to finish

c. AD 28–29, estimated date
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
From his wider following Jesus chooses twelve men to be with him and to be sent out to preach and heal. Mark, Matthew and Luke list their names from Simon Peter to Judas Iscariot; Acts lists the eleven who remained.
c. AD 29 or 32, estimated date
Peter’s Confession at Caesarea Philippi
Mark and Matthew tell how, near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is, and Peter answers: You are the Christ. Jesus then begins to speak of his coming suffering and death. Matthew adds the saying about the rock and the keys.
c. AD 64–68, traditional date
The Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul
The New Testament does not tell how Peter and Paul died. A letter from Rome, usually dated about AD 96, says that both suffered and died for their witness; writers from about AD 170 onwards place their deaths at Rome, and later ones under Nero.
c. AD 50–120, estimated date
The Didache, an Early Church Manual
An anonymous handbook, “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”, sets out for one early community how to live, how to baptize, fast and pray, what to say over the cup and the bread, and how to treat travelling prophets and local leaders.
about AD 96, estimated date
The Roman Church Writes to Corinth (1 Clement)
The church of Rome sends a long letter to the church of Corinth, where presbyters have been removed from office, and tells those responsible to submit to them. It appeals to an order handed down from the apostles and is linked from the second century with the name of Clement.
about AD 110, traditional date
Ignatius of Antioch Writes on the Road to Martyrdom
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, is taken under guard to Rome to be thrown to wild beasts. On the way he writes seven letters that urge unity around the bishop, insist that Christ truly suffered, and ask the Roman Christians not to save him.
about AD 180, estimated date
Irenaeus Sets Out the Rule of Faith
Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, writes five books against the followers of Valentinus and Marcion. Against their claim to a secret tradition he sets three public tests: the faith the churches confess, the four Gospels, and the succession of bishops from the apostles.
AD 251 to AD 258, firm date
Cyprian on the Unity of the Church
Faced with rival bishops at Rome and Carthage after the Decian persecution, Cyprian argues that there is one church, held together by one episcopate, outside which there is no salvation. He then defends his view of baptism against the bishop of Rome and dies a martyr in 258.
October AD 451, firm date
The Council of Chalcedon
A council called by the emperor Marcian confesses Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human, and ranks Constantinople next after Rome. The Greek and Latin churches receive it; the Coptic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian and Ethiopian churches do not.
about AD 542 to AD 578, estimated date
Jacob Baradaeus and the Syriac Orthodox Church
When the opponents of Chalcedon are short of bishops, the empress Theodora has the monk Jacob consecrated. John of Ephesus, his admirer, tells how he travelled the East for over thirty years, hunted by the emperor’s agents, ordaining clergy and bishops for a separate church.
AD 590 to AD 604, firm date
Gregory the Great and the Mission to the English
Gregory I, a monk made pope against his will, governs the Roman church from 590 to 604, writes the Pastoral Rule, refuses the title of universal bishop and sends the monk Augustine to convert the English of Kent.
AD 664, firm date
The Synod of Whitby
At Hilda’s monastery of Whitby, King Oswiu of Northumbria hears the Irish and the Roman parties argue over the date of Easter and decides for Rome, citing Peter’s keys. Bishop Colman and his followers leave for Iona and Ireland.
AD 719–754, estimated date
Boniface, Apostle to the Germans
The English monk Winfrid, renamed Boniface, is sent by Pope Gregory II to preach east of the Rhine. He fells the sacred oak at Geismar, founds bishoprics and the abbey of Fulda, reforms the Frankish church under Roman authority, and is killed in Frisia.
AD 754 to AD 756, firm date
The Donation of Pepin and the Papal States
Threatened by the Lombards and unaided by the emperor, Pope Stephen II crosses the Alps to the Frankish king Pepin. Pepin defeats the Lombards and gives Ravenna and its cities not to the emperor but to St Peter, making the pope a ruler of territory.
25 December AD 800, firm date
Charlemagne Is Crowned Emperor
On Christmas Day 800, in St Peter’s at Rome, Pope Leo III sets a crown on the head of the Frankish king Charles and the Romans acclaim him emperor. The sources of the time disagree about who planned it and whether the king wished it.
AD 863 to AD 867, estimated date
The Photian Schism
Pope Nicholas I refuses to recognize Photius as patriarch of Constantinople and declares him deposed; Photius denounces Latin teaching in Bulgaria, the filioque above all, and his council condemns the pope. The breach is healed, but its arguments return.
February AD 962, firm date
Otto I Is Crowned Emperor
Called into Italy by Pope John XII, the German king Otto I is crowned emperor at Rome and confirms the papal territories, while requiring each new pope to make a promise before the emperor’s envoys. Within two years he has the pope deposed.
16 July 1054, firm date
The Schism of 1054
Legates of the Roman see excommunicate the patriarch of Constantinople in Hagia Sophia, and his synod anathematizes them in return. The sentences name persons, not churches, but later ages take the day as the breach between East and West.
1075 to 1077, firm date
The Investiture Controversy and Canossa
Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV of Germany break over the appointment of bishops. Deposed and excommunicated in 1076, Henry comes as a barefoot penitent to the castle of Canossa in January 1077 and is absolved. The conflict goes on.
23 September 1122, firm date
The Concordat of Worms
Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V end the dispute over investiture. The emperor gives up investing bishops with ring and staff and allows free election; the pope lets him be present at elections in Germany and confer the bishop’s worldly holdings by the sceptre.
March 1179, firm date
The Third Lateran Council
Alexander III holds a general council at the Lateran at the end of a papal schism. It requires two thirds of the cardinals to elect a pope, orders a schoolmaster for every cathedral, and calls the faithful to arms against heretics and mercenary bands.
November 1215, firm date
The Fourth Lateran Council
Innocent III gathers more than four hundred bishops in Rome. The council issues a creed that speaks of bread and wine “transubstantiated”, orders measures against heresy and yearly confession, and requires Jews and Muslims to wear distinguishing dress.
May 1274, firm date
The Second Council of Lyon
Gregory X holds a general council at Lyon, where envoys of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII accept the Roman faith and primacy. The council also fixes the rules of the papal conclave. After the emperor’s death the Greek church repudiates the union.
18 November 1302, firm date
Boniface VIII Issues Unam Sanctam
In his conflict with Philip IV of France, Pope Boniface VIII declares that the church has one head, that the temporal sword is subject to the spiritual, and that it is necessary for salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.
1309 to 1377, estimated date
The Popes at Avignon
After the election of a Gascon pope in 1305 the papal court settles at Avignon on the Rhône and stays for some seventy years. Petrarch calls it Babylon; Catherine of Siena urges Gregory XI to come home, and he returns to Rome in 1377.
1378 to 1417, firm date
The Great Western Schism
The cardinals who elect Urban VI at Rome in 1378 declare the election forced and set up Clement VII. For nearly forty years two and then three lines of popes divide Latin Christendom, until at Constance two are deposed, one resigns and Martin V is elected.
1414 to 1418, firm date
The Council of Constance and the Burning of Jan Hus
A general council ends the papal schism, declares that even a pope must obey it, and orders councils to meet at fixed intervals. It also tries the Czech preacher Jan Hus, who had come under the king’s safe-conduct, and hands him over to be burned on 6 July 1415.
6 July 1439, firm date
The Council of Florence Proclaims Reunion
Pope Eugene IV and the Byzantine emperor John VIII proclaim the reunion of the Latin and Greek churches at Florence on 6 July 1439, in a decree affirming the Filioque and papal primacy. Mark of Ephesus refuses to sign, and the union finds little acceptance in Constantinople.
31 October 1517, firm date
Luther’s Ninety-five Theses
On 31 October 1517 Martin Luther sends the archbishop of Mainz ninety-five theses questioning what indulgences can do. Whether he also posted them on the Castle Church at Wittenberg that day is disputed. The controversy that follows becomes the Reformation.
1520 to 1521, firm date
Luther Is Excommunicated and Outlawed at Worms
Leo X condemns forty-one of Luther’s propositions in 1520 and excommunicates him in January 1521. Before Charles V at Worms that April, Luther refuses to retract unless convinced by Scripture or evident reason. An imperial edict outlaws him, and he is hidden in a Saxon castle.
1534, firm date
England Breaks with Rome
Parliament forbids appeals to Rome and in 1534 declares Henry VIII the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England. John Fisher and Thomas More, who deny the title, are beheaded in 1535.
1545 to 1563, firm date
The Council of Trent
In twenty-five sessions spread over eighteen years, the Catholic bishops assembled at Trent define their church’s teaching on Scripture and tradition, justification and the sacraments, and decree a reform of the clergy.
25 February 1570, firm date
Regnans in Excelsis and the Execution of Catholic Priests under Elizabeth I
In 1570 Pope Pius V declares Elizabeth I deposed. Parliament makes reconciliation with Rome treason, and priests such as the Jesuit Edmund Campion are executed: as traitors, says the government; for their religion, say Catholic writers.
26 January 1589, firm date
Moscow Becomes a Patriarchate
In January 1589 Jeremias II of Constantinople, visiting Russia, installs Metropolitan Job as the first patriarch of Moscow. A council at Constantinople confirms it in 1590 and ranks Moscow fifth. The tsar’s charter calls the Russian realm the Third Rome.
October 1596, firm date
The Union of Brest
In 1595 the metropolitan of Kiev and most of his bishops, Orthodox subjects of the Polish king, offer union with Rome on thirty-three conditions. Clement VIII receives them, and the union is proclaimed at Brest in 1596. Other bishops and Prince Ostrogski stay outside it.
1599 to 1653, firm date
The Synod of Diamper and the Coonan Cross Oath
In June 1599 the archbishop of Goa holds a synod at Diamper that binds the Thomas Christians of Malabar to Rome and cuts their tie to the patriarch of Babylon. In 1653 many of them swear to obey their Jesuit archbishop no longer, and the community divides.
1653 to 1713, firm date
Jansenism and the Bull Unigenitus
In 1653 Rome condemns five propositions on grace. The defenders of Cornelius Jansen condemn them too but deny that they are in his book; Rome defines that they are, and in 1713 the bull Unigenitus condemns 101 propositions from Quesnel’s New Testament.
1704 to 1742, firm date
The Chinese Rites Controversy
Jesuit missionaries let Chinese converts honour Confucius and their ancestors as civil customs; others call the rites superstitious. Rome forbids them in 1704, 1715 and 1742, the Kangxi emperor says Westerners should no longer preach, and in 1939 Rome allows them as civil acts.
25 January 1721 (Old Style), firm date
Peter the Great Replaces the Patriarch with the Holy Synod
In January 1721 (Old Style) Tsar Peter I puts the Russian church under a board of clergy sworn to him as its supreme judge. It takes the patriarch’s place and the name of Most Holy Synod, and in 1723 the patriarch of Constantinople recognises it.
21 July 1773, firm date
The Suppression of the Jesuits
By the brief Dominus ac Redemptor of 21 July 1773 Pope Clement XIV abolishes the Society of Jesus, which the Catholic kings of France, Spain, Portugal and the Two Sicilies had already expelled. In 1814 Pius VII restores it in all countries.
8 December 1854, firm date
The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
On 8 December 1854 Pius IX defines that Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin from the first instant of her conception, a point long disputed among Latin theologians. Orthodox and Old Catholic statements reject the definition, and Anglicans record difficulty with it.
1869 to 1870, firm date
The First Vatican Council
A council of Catholic bishops at Rome defines that the pope has full jurisdiction over the whole church and is infallible when he defines a doctrine of faith or morals ex cathedra. A minority of bishops stays away from the final vote, and other churches reject the definition.
15 May 1891, firm date
Rerum Novarum and Christian Social Teaching
Pope Leo XIII addresses the condition of industrial workers. His encyclical rejects socialism and class war, defends private property, and teaches that workers are owed a living wage, limits on their hours, the protection of the law and the right to form unions.
1917 to 1918, firm date
The Russian Church under the Bolsheviks
In November 1917 a council of the Russian Orthodox Church restores the patriarchate and Tikhon takes the patriarchal seat. Two months later the Soviet government separates church and state by decree and declares all church property to be the people’s.
11 February 1929, firm date
The Lateran Treaty Creates Vatican City
On 11 February 1929 the Holy See and Italy sign a treaty and a concordat in the Lateran Palace. Italy recognises the pope’s sovereignty over Vatican City, and the Holy See recognises the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital.
14 March 1937, firm date
Mit brennender Sorge: Pius XI on the Church in the German Reich
In an encyclical to the German bishops dated 14 March 1937, Pius XI protests that the concordat of 1933 has been broken and rejects as contrary to faith in God the exalting of race, people or state to the highest value.
25 January 1944, firm date
The First Woman Is Ordained an Anglican Priest
In unoccupied China the Anglican bishop of Hong Kong ordains the deaconess Li Tim Oi a priest, so that her wartime congregation in Macau may have the sacraments. The Lambeth Conference of 1948 advises against such ordinations; that of 1978 accepts churches that ordain women.
1 November 1950, firm date
The Dogma of the Assumption of Mary
Pope Pius XII defines as dogma that the Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory. The Orthodox keep the feast of her Dormition; many Anglicans object that the definition lacks a basis in Scripture.
1962 to 1965, firm date
The Second Vatican Council
From 1962 to 1965 the Catholic bishops of the world meet in St Peter’s. Called by John XXIII and concluded by Paul VI, the council issues texts on the liturgy, the church, revelation, religious freedom, other Christians and the Jewish people.
25 July 1968, firm date
Humanae Vitae
In an encyclical of 25 July 1968 Paul VI teaches that every marital act must keep its relation to procreation and excludes any act meant to prevent it. The Lambeth Conference disagrees; Canada’s Catholic bishops say some Catholics find parts of it hard or impossible to accept.
1978 to 1979, firm date
John Paul II and the Churches under Communism
In October 1978 the cardinals elect the archbishop of Kraków as pope. He tells the world not to be afraid and to open the frontiers of states to Christ, and in June 1979 he preaches in Warsaw that Christ cannot be kept out of human history.
11 October 1992, firm date
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
On 11 October 1992 John Paul II orders the publication of a catechism for the whole Catholic Church, asked for by the bishops’ synod of 1985 and drafted over six years under Cardinal Ratzinger. It sets out Catholic teaching in four parts.
6 January 2002, firm date
The Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis
From January 2002, reports from Boston and then official inquiries in the United States, Ireland and Australia document the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and its concealment by church authorities. Popes change church law. Reports on other churches follow.
11 February 2013, firm date
Benedict XVI Resigns and Francis Is Elected
Benedict XVI tells the cardinals that his strength is no longer equal to the office and renounces it from 28 February 2013. On 13 March the conclave elects Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, a Jesuit, who takes the name Francis.
6 January 2019, firm date
Constantinople Grants Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew hands Metropolitan Epiphanius a tomos declaring the Orthodox Church in Ukraine autocephalous. The Moscow Patriarchate, which counts Ukraine as its own canonical territory, has already broken communion with Constantinople over the decision.
8 May 2025, firm date
Leo XIV, the First Pope from the United States
After the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday 2025 the cardinals elect Robert Francis Prevost, an Augustinian friar born in Chicago who had been a missionary and bishop in Peru. He takes the name Leo XIV.