Pontifices maximi, old and new

Year of Faith could see beatification of John Paul I, Paul VI:


The Roman emperors got into the habit of being deified and then of deifying themselves.
The Roman pontiffs, it seems, are following suit.

There is no necessary connection at all between being Bishop of Rome and being a saint. Lots of them have not been even close, to put it mildly.

Not a good trend, all this canonizing of dead Popes, one after the other. Too imperial. To say nothing of giving the appearance of being grossly self-serving.

'via Blog this'

PS. Pontifex maximus was a traditional title of the head of the college of pagan priests in Rome and eveventually the Emperors took it over. Bishops (as in pontifical) followed, especially the Roman Bishops since the 5th/6th centuries.