Papacy, the office and jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome, the pope, who presides over the central government of the Roman Catholic Church, the largest of the three major branches of Christianity.

The papacy is the office or position of the Pope, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. It also refers to the system of ecclesiastical government in which the Pope has the supreme authority. Additionally, it can denote the tenure or reign of a specific Pope.

When used in the context of the Catholic Church, the papacy refers to the office of pope, the successor of Saint Peter, and the authority that the pope exercises in that office. When used historically, the papacy refers to a particular pope’s time in office, or the religious and cultural force of the Catholic Church down through history.

Papacy.— This term is employed in an ecclesiastical and in an historical signification. In the former of these uses it denotes the ecclesiastical system in which the pope as successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Jesus Christ governs the Catholic Church as its supreme head.