From the margins to the center of the Roman world -- Peter : bishop of Rome? -- After Peter and Paul -- Constantine : the thirteenth apostle -- Prosperity to crisis : Damasus and Leo the Great -- Gregory the Great -- Bringing order out of chaos -- Greeks, Lombards, Franks -- Charlemagne : savior or master? -- Their darkest hour -- Saving the papacy from itself -- Gregory VII : who's in charge here? -- Development, decline, disarray -- Compromises, crusades, councils, concordats -- Innocent III : vicar of Christ -- Boniface VIII : big claims, big humiliation -- Avignon : the Babylonian captivity -- Three popes at a time : the great western schism -- Renaissance and Reformation -- restored papacy -- Renaissance popes -- Luther, Leo, and the aftermath -- Paul III : a turning point -- Five popes and a council -- new Rome -- Into the modern era -- storm breaks -- Pius VII : bowed down and raised up -- Beleaguered, infallible, and prisoner again -- Leo XIII : searching for solutions -- Pius X : confronting modern culture -- papacy as a global institution -- War, peace, fascism -- Pius XII : saint or sinner? -- John XXIII : peace and reconciliation -- Paul VI : in a tight spot -- John Paul II : the world is my parish -- List of Popes.