List of popes by length of reign
As pontificate are now referred to in general office, term of office and dignity of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The word derives from its title Pontifex Maximus, the once carried the chief priest of the Roman state cult and which the Emperor had left to the Bishop of Rome to the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Also office and office of a bishop pontificate are called analog to the Supreme Pontiff, consequently, not the Pope, but especially in the solemn Pontifical Mass einfachhin " pontiff " is. The Latin term pontifex means bridge-builder '. As a title it has been used since the time of the Roman Republic for a member of the college of pontiffs. It was a college of priests, which originally was for the entertainment of the Tiber bridge in ancient Rome and later the supervision has been transferred over the entire religion being. The most senior of these priests was the Pontifex Maximus.
Until 1059 the enthronement was defined as the beginning of the pontificate. Since the pontificate begins with the acceptance of the election, with candidates without episcopal ordination with the directly subsequent episcopal ordination. This creates the problem that in papal elections before 1059 the papacy was sometimes not recognized when the Pope died before the enthronement.