# Who was the first Antichrist Pope?



## SeanAnderson (Nov 8, 2014)

I've been wondering, who might be considered the first Antichrist Pope?

The issues are:

1) The papal office developed gradually and became increasingly corrupt. Is there a defining moment at which the Bishop of Rome became Pope - as we know the papacy today - and Antichrist?

2) Before the Reformation, the Catholic Church (now the Romish Church) was arguably _the_ visible church, despite its corruptions, to which all Christians might have considered themselves to belong.

While I'm sure that there were reprobate popes since antiquity and that Romish hierarchy has always been wrong, was it only with the repudiation of Protestantism that the Pope became Antichrist and the Church of Rome ceased to be catholic?

Notably, Calvin did not seem to consider all historical popes as antichrists.


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## PointyHaired Calvinist (Nov 8, 2014)

I would guess Nicholas I, Gregory VII, definitely by Innocent III or Boniface VIII.


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## SeanPatrickCornell (Nov 8, 2014)

SeanAnderson said:


> 2) Before the Reformation, the Catholic Church (now the Romish Church) was arguably _the_ visible church, despite its corruptions, to which all Christians might have considered themselves to belong.



I think the millions of Christians in the Eastern Orthodox churches between 1054 and 1517 might strongly disagree.


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## SeanAnderson (Nov 8, 2014)

SeanPatrickCornell said:


> SeanAnderson said:
> 
> 
> > 2) Before the Reformation, the Catholic Church (now the Romish Church) was arguably _the_ visible church, despite its corruptions, to which all Christians might have considered themselves to belong.
> ...



Good point. I somehow managed to forget about the Schism!


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## jwithnell (Nov 8, 2014)

Wasn't that the $9 million question at the time of the American Puritans? If you could put a date on the "correct" pope, you could give a millennial outlook.


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## C. M. Sheffield (Nov 8, 2014)

It would be hard to say. Innocent III (1161-1216) is of course a safe bet. But Leo the Great (R. 440-461) was the first to assert his authority over all other bishops and function in political affairs in ways previously unknown.


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## Rich Koster (Nov 8, 2014)

Would someone making a deal with Constantine be a frontrunner?


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