The terms Dad And Pontiff These are two synonyms that indicate the Holy Father, that is, the bishop of Rome who represents the highest religious authority e boss from the Catholic Church, as well as absolute sovereign of the state of Vatican city. These two terms, despite having an identical meaning, have two distinct Etymological derivations that have their roots in history.
The Italian term Pope derives from the same Latin word Popein turn deriving from the Greek πάππας (pàppas)a family term that meant “father”. This term was already widespread in antiquity, both in the East and in the West, with some differences: in the East it was used indifferently to turn to any ecclesiastical member, while in the West it was initially used to appeal to the bishops first and subsequently, from the fourth century after Christ, only to the bishop of Rome.
The term pontiff, Instead, it has its roots in theAncient Romewhere it indicated each of the members of the legal-saceredoral collegein fact also called “College of the Pontiffs”, which was chaired by Massimo Pontiff. At the time, the Pontiffs had the task of supervising both religious and legal traditions of a city. In fact, these were the first jurists of Roman history.
The Latin term pontifex (literally “builder of bridges”) a composition of the two is considered Latin terms Pontis (i.e. bridge) e do (i.e. to do), and can therefore be interpreted as “He who took care of the construction of the bridge (on the Tiber)”. The term was then with the time acquired by the Catholic Church which in a certain sense maintained the meaning of “religious supervision” and according to the reconstructions it was used as an appellation for the bishop of Rome for the first by Tertullian, and then consolidated as a synonym of Pope around the fifth century after Christ.
