AHC:should have Multiple Patriarchs of the Catholic Church

I mean at the time of the east-west schism, as most of those churches didn't become independent until much later

Partly because most of those countries didn't become independent until much later. That, and the fact that the Eastern Churches had a tradition of autonomy anyway.

There was also the issue that the Orthodox Church was in some way beholden to the secular authority - first the Byzantine Emperor, and later the Ottoman Sultan - in a way that the Pope wasn't.

Kings and emperors deferred to the Holy Father in Rome (well, most of the time), but the Patriarch of Constantinople deferred to the Emperor.
 
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