Pope
The pope (Latin: papa, from Ancient Greek: πάππας, romanized: páppas, lit. 'father')[2][3] is the bishop of Rome and the visible head[a] of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff,[b] Roman pontiff,[c] or sovereign pontiff. The institution is known as the Papacy. From the eighth century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States, and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City state.[4][5] From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The reigning pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013.[6]
While his office is called the papacy, the jurisdiction of the episcopal see is called the Holy See.[7] It is the Holy See that is the sovereign entity under international law headquartered in the distinctively independent Vatican City, a city-state which forms a geographical enclave within the conurbation of Rome, established by the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between Fascist Italy and the Holy See to ensure its temporal and spiritual independence. The Holy See is recognized by its adherence at various levels to international organizations and by means of its diplomatic relations and political accords with many independent states.