AHC: Bishop of Two Romes

The Pope, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is also known as the Bishop of Rome. This is particularly important, because according to Church Tradition St. Peter the Apostle was the first Bishop of Rome. On a different note, the city of Constantinople is sometimes referred to as the Second Rome.


Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to have the Pope simultaneously controlling both Rome and Constantinople for an extended period of time. Use the latest possible Point of Diversion.



Bonus Points if you can somehow have the Pope in control of Rome, Constantinople and Moscow.
 
Do you mean controlling both Rome and Constantinople in a Papal States way?

But if you mean in a religious way, there are about a million different schisms which if prevented could have kept Greek Orthodoxy and Catholicism together.

Another one is if Constantine hadn't been so wishy-washy with his support Christianity- if he hadn't switched his support to Arianism, it's likely the Church would have been more unified and less conflicted.
 
This would require a very early POD, essentially where the structure of the early Church, such as it was, would somehow allow for a bishop to lead in two different places. That'd be hard to do, considering the fact that the church early on was very much about the local leaders - you didn't really have sharing. By the time Byzantium became Constantinople... The only way I can think of to break that tradition would be Constantine, in order to give Nova Roma the aura of authority that Rome had would make the positions congruent. After that, especially with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, having the same person in both positions would be seen as unacceptable meddling, depending on that time period. The very very latest PoD I could possibly see would be with the creation of the Latin Empire, but that wouldn't have the Pope controlling both for very long, and traditions by that point would be very hard to go against.
 
Canon Law forbids a Bishop to hold 2 different Sees... So we have to move the PoD way back in order to have the Pope administrating both his own See and Constantinople's See since this canon was established in early Ecumenical Councils it can be repealed only by another Ecumenical Council.
 
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Easiest would be to have the Papacy moved to Constantinople, which is the premier military/political power center from 500 CE onward. Having it as the religious center as well will give the Byzantines additional stability, and increase its influence in Europe.

The Cardinal of Rome, whoever he will be, will still wield enormous influence, of course, but not to the extent the Popes did. Without a Pope as a major political player Western Europe will be much different place, but an eastern Pope would be much more intimately concerned with the welfare of the Byzantine Empire, which might well lead to earlier crusades, among other differences.
 
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