The pope either decides the case himself or delegates the decision to another tribunal, usually one of the tribunals or congregations of the Roman Curia.

Martin was elected pope at the Council of Constance on St. Martin's Day, 11 November 1417, by a conclave consisting of twenty-three cardinals and thirty delegates of the council.

The President of the Pontifical Commission is also the President of the Governorate of Vatican City, to whom the pope delegates executive authority for the state.

He asked if the pope ( by this stage Pope Agatho ) would be willing to send delegates to an ecumenical council to be held at Constantinople to finally put an end to this question.

The two archbishops, Günther of Cologne and Thietgaud of Trier, who had come to Rome as delegates, were summoned before the Lateran Synod of October 863, when the pope condemned and deposed them as well as John of Ravenna and Hagano of Bergamo.

Macedonius held the see for about six years, while letters and delegates, the pope and the emperors, synods and counter-synods, were debating and disputing the treatment of Paul and Athanasius.

Those inhabitants who could not conform to the prince's religion were allowed to leave, an innovative idea in the 16th century ; this principle was discussed at length by the various delegates, who finally reached agreement on the specifics of its wording after examining the problem and the proposed solution from every possible angle. Cuius regio, eius religio went against earlier Catholic teaching which held that the kings should faithfully obey the pope.

In all cases of Apostolic visitation, the pope, through delegates, is putting into effect the supreme and immediate jurisdiction which is his for any and every part of the Church.

Cesarini was made President of the Council of Basel, in which capacity he successfully resisted the efforts of Eugenius IV to dissolve the council, though later ( 1437 ) he withdrew, believing the majority of delegates present were more anxious to humiliate the pope than to accomplish reforms, for his first loyalty was to the idea of church unity.

In the Roman Church, positive ecclesiastical laws, based upon either immutable divine and natural law, or changeable circumstantial and merely positive law, derive formal authority and promulgation from the office of pope, who as Supreme Pontiff possesses the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person.

The Vatican legal system is rooted in canon law but ultimately is decided by the pope ; the Bishop of Rome as the Supreme Pontiff, " has the fullness of legislative, executive and judicial powers.

As with almost all monarchies, the executive, legislative and judicial power of government reside in the crown, in this case in the office of pope.

In the Roman Church, positive ecclesiastical laws, based upon either immutable divine and natural law, or changeable circumstantial and merely positive law, derive formal authority and promulgation from the pope, who as Supreme Pontiff possesses the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power in his person.

There are a great many bishops who have never had a cross on their bosom, nor a mitre on their head, who appeal not to the authority of the Pope at Rome, but to the Almighty Dollar, a pope much nearer home.

Cardinals also serve as advisors to the pope and hold positions of authority within the structure of the Catholic Church.

Walter of Pontoise was canonized by Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen in 1153 ; Walter was the last saint in Western Europe to have been canonized by an authority other than the pope.

The pope, as Bishop of Rome, may open a process and has the authority to waive the five year waiting period, as was done for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II, and for Lúcia Santos and for John Paul II himself by Pope Benedict XVI.

The King was recognized as having the right to invest bishops with secular authority (" by the lance ") in the territories they governed, but not with sacred authority (" by ring and staff "); the result was that bishops owed allegiance in worldly matters both to the pope and to the king, for they were obligated to affirm the right of the sovereign to call upon them for military support, under his oath of fealty.

Opposing the medieval pope was the primary and unyielding authority of the state.

After thirty years of schism, the Council of Pisa had sought to resolve the situation by deposing the two claimant popes and elected a new pope, Alexander V. The council claimed that in such a situation, a council of bishops had greater authority than just one bishop, even if he were the bishop of Rome.

The new pope, Martin V, elected November 1417, soon asserted the absolute authority of the papal office.

The remote origins of the theory are rooted in the medieval idea that God had bestowed earthly power on the king, just as God had given spiritual power and authority to the church, centering on the pope.

Antichristus, a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder of the pope using the temporal power to grant authority to a ruler contributing generously to the Catholic Church

In 800, Charlemagne's authority was confirmed by his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor by the pope on Christmas Day in Rome.

This ruling meant that the Templars could pass freely through all borders, were not required to pay any taxes, and were exempt from all authority except that of the pope.

Whether Mellitus received a pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, from the pope is unknown.

Over the centuries, papal claims of spiritual authority have been ever more firmly expressed, culminating in 1870 with the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility for rare occasions when the pope speaks ex cathedra — literally " from the chair ( of St. Peter )"— to issue a formal definition of faith or morals.

After the fall of Rome, the pope served as a source of authority and continuity.

Conciliar theory holds that the supreme authority of the church lies with a General Council, not with the pope.

Antichristus, a woodcut by Lucas Cranach of the pope using the temporal power to grant authority to a generously contributing ruler

Though the progressive Christianisation of the Roman Empire in the 4th century did not confer upon bishops civil authority within the state, the gradual withdrawal of imperial authority during the 5th century left the pope the senior imperial civilian official in Rome, as bishops were increasingly directing civil affairs in other cities of the Western Empire.

The basic tenets of Puritanism include original depravity ( born Goons ), limited atonement ( worldly ritual or pray cannot ensure salvation ), predestination, literal authority of the bible, evil persons / behavior will be punished by God while good persons / behavior are rewarded, and they also believed along with Dontay Hickson ( Protestant Reformation ) that no pope or bishop could impose laws on Christians without their consent.

As pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority.

One of the most direct public notices of the universal authority of the pope came in Innocent III ’ s “ Papal Decree on the choice of a German King, 1201 ".

It is the business of the pope to look after the interests of the Roman empire, since the empire derives its origin and its final authority from the papacy ; its origin, because it was originally transferred from Greece by and for the sake of the papacy ... its final authority, because the emperor is raised to his position by the pope who blesses him, crowns him and invests him with the empire .... Therefore, since three persons have lately been elected king by different parties, namely the youth son of Henry VI, Philip Hohenstaufen, brother of Henry VI, and Otto Brunswick, of the Welf family, so also three things must be taken into account in regard to each one, namely: the legality, the suitability and the expediency of his election ...... Far be it from us that we should defer to man rather than to God, or that we should fear the countenance of the powerful .... On the foregoing grounds, then, we decide that the youth should not at present be given the empire ; we utterly reject Philip for his manifest unfitness and we order his usurpation to be resisted by all .... since Otto is not only himself devoted to the church, but comes from devout ancestors on both sides ..... therefore we decree that he ought to be accepted and supported as king, and ought to be given the crown of empire, after the rights of the Roman church have been secured.

It is hard not to lay most of the blame for their failures on the pope.

To the pope, head of the universal Church, to the duke of Burgundy, taking full advantage of his position on the borders of France and of the Empire, or to Othon, who found it quite natural that he should do homage to Edward for Tipperary and to the count of Savoy for Grandson, Flotte's outspoken nationalism was completely incomprehensible.

The election was for life, unless the abbot was canonically deprived by the chiefs of his order, or when he was directly subject to them, by the pope or the bishop.

He studied theology and canon law, and after acting as parish priest in his native diocese for twelve years was sent by the pope to Canada as a bishop's chaplain.

The arrangement mirrors the one designed by Bernini for the Tomb of Urban VIII ( 1628 – 47 ), with a central hieratic sculpture of the pope seated in full regalia and offering a hand of blessing, while at his feet, two allegorical female figures flank his sarcophagus.

Then the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen had a falling-out with the pope and in 1105 a separate archbishopric for the North was established in Lund.

In the Catholic Church the Congregation for Bishops oversees the selection of new bishops with the approval of the pope.

Louis VI of France convened a national council of the French bishops at Étampes in 1130, and Bernard was chosen to judge between the rivals for pope.

Finally, Nicholas III ( pope 1277 – 1280 ) adopted this version both for the curia and for the basilicas of Rome, and thus made its position secure.

Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV ( pope 1740 – 1758 ), a special congregation collected much material for an official revision, but nothing was published.

The wall was beginning to collapse when Constantine sent a letter to the pope asking for help.

In theory, the pope could substitute another body of electors for the College of Cardinals.

In early times the privilege of papal election was not reserved to the cardinals, and for centuries the pope was customarily a Roman priest and never a bishop from elsewhere ; to preserve apostolic succession the rite of consecrating the pope as a bishop had to be performed by someone who was already a bishop.

In addition to the named cardinals, the pope may name secret cardinals or cardinals in pectore ( Latin for in the breast ).

Some speculate that the pope could leave instructions in writing, perhaps in his will, for the appointment to be made known after his death ; but it is difficult to imagine a case in which the pope would consider that his own death would remove the obstacle in the way of publishing the name.

A compromise was reached in Worms in 1122, by which the emperor abandoned investiture “ by ring and staff ” to the pope, and promised to respect the freedom of elections and consecrations, but kept for himself the right to invest bishops with the temporalities of their sees “ by scepter ”.