Origin of religious positions and title

Facts about Position/Title

Date Founded	751 CE	Place Founded	Rome
Founder(s)	Carloman (Zacharias)
Etymology	Latin Vicarius Christi ("Vicar of Christ") - from Vicarius - early Imperial religious position of the Holy Roman Empire.
Original Function	The Vicar of Christ was the official position created by Pepin the Short in order to represent a position claiming to have superior religious position through claimed apostolic succession from the time of St Peter through a series of bisceops ("bishops") in Rome .
Superior Position(s)	Holy Royal Family
Inferior Position(s)	Bisceop ("Bishops"), Preost ("Priests").

The position of Vicarius Christi ("Vicar of Christ") was introduced in 755 as part of the creation of the Catholic Church in order to create a religious position claiming to have superior religious position through claimed apostolic succession from the time of St. Peter, through the time of Constantine up until the time of Pepin the Short through an unbroken chain of christian bisceops ("bishops") in Rome.

Forged history now wrongly claims this title was used eas early as the 5th Century by claimed Pope Gelasius I (492-496). However, this is impossible as the Arian Pelagian Dynasty Bishop Caelius Laurentius (493-506) was in power in Rome -- Gelasius being one of many fictional "Popes".

The title of Vicarius was almost certainly chosen because of its Imperial religious origins in the first formation of the Holy Roman Empire and Christianity in 325 onwards. In the first age of Christianity, the Vicars were answerable directly only to the Emperor as supreme religious ruler.

The claims of legitimacy attached to the title

In the case of the title Vicarius Christi, the claim of its legitimacy as the title for the head of the Roman Catholic Cult rests in firstly the theological claim of St. Peter being Christ's Vicar - Christ being the "Emperor" and St. Peter being his representative on Earth.

So long as a claimed unbroken succession can be maintained to purport the authority of St. Peter as the 1st Vicar transferring era after era to a line of Christian bishops in Rome to the present day, then the title of "Vicar of Christ" is deemed to hold true and sovereign magisterium.

The second claim as legitimacy for the title of Vicarius Christi comes from the claimed "Donation of Constantine" in which the Emperor is claimed to have bestowed to the Bishops of Rome the special and unique title of representing the powers of the Holy Roman Emperor including claims over taxation, land and bestowing noble favour and titles.

Until the last century, the Donation of Constantine was considered the stronger of the two claims. However, since the Donation of Constantine is unquestionable a fraud, the Roman Catholic Cult prefers to base its primary claim of title of Vicarius Christi for the Roman Pontiff upon apostolic succession and the Liber Pontificalis.


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