Edited sentence: 1260 years ended in 1798....Dozens of writers have pointed out that the real survivor of the ancient Roman Empire was the Church of Rome.It was out of the smoking ruins of the western Roman Empire and after the overthrow of the three Arian kingdoms that the pope of Rome emerged as the most important single individual in the West, the head of a closely organized church with a carefully defined creed and with vast potential for political influence.McKenzie, Catholic Church, page 14).So too for the events of 1798.The Pope now emerges as the leading ruler in the West for 1260 years.The particular events listed for 538 AD bear careful scrutiny to see if they really happened, happened in 538, or point to what some might want to make them signify.The theory of the 1260 years of the papacy is popular among Adventists and protestant reformers, who often have sought to show a connection between the papacy and the prophecies concerning 1260 years recorded in the books of Daniel and Revelation.“AD 538 [was] the year when the Ostrogoths collapsed.“In 1798 he (Berthier) made his entrance into Rome, ABOLISHED THE PAPAL GOVERNAMENT and established a secular one.” The Encyclopedia Americana, 1941 edition