Pope

The Pope (Latin: *papa*, from Greek: πάππας, romanized: *pappas*, "father"), also known as the Supreme Pontiff or the Pontiff of Discord is Bishop of Rome, head of the Discordian Catholic Church and Sovereign of the Pontifical Discord Server. According to Catholics, the primacy of the Bishop of Rome is largely derived to the role of the Representative of the real life Pope on the Internet (Specifically Discord). With the first office holder being St. Pius I who founded the server and expanded the position's influence.

## History

### Establishment

On September 14, 2021, St. Pius I was allegedly bored of his Fredonia Discord Server and preferred to become Pope, so he created the Pontifical Discord Server along with 3 other founders, St. Cinzus, Wendigo of the UCCS, and Jean Alphonse of Aurum-Chyrsos. It was intended for fun to roleplay as priests but it gradually became a serious position intended to unify Christians on Discord.

### Early days of the Papacy

At the early days St. Pius I spent most of his Papacy inviting people to the server, appointing the first Cardinals, and establishing influence over several Catholic Discord Servers, he was also known to be a ''Tolerant Pope'' and tolerated Jews, Orthodox, and Atheists and welcomed them to the server any time, he was seen as a modern one and a Pope like the real life Pope Francis.

### Development to a Discord-wide recognized position

Although now the Papacy is still a new server, it has established a position of supremacy over religion and Secular Leaders and Ordinary Citizens began to recognize the Papacy as it gradually grows, the Pope also had a discord-wide recognition on excommunications, and when the Pope excommunicates, servers follow and ban.

## Election and ending Papacy

### Election

2 Days after a Pontiff ended his papacy, Cardinals from all servers recognized by the Papacy will go to the Sistine Chapel, there all communication to the outside world will be cut and the only communication to the people eagerly waiting for the news of a new elected Pope will be the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel. Black Smoke means no result and another round will be conducted, White Smoke means a New Pope is elected. The New Pope will be announced by the Camerlengo of the Papacy on the Papal Balcony in front of the St. Peter's Basilica. The Camerlengo is to recite this paragraph and goes in St. Peter's Basilica and then the new Pope walks out to the Papal Balcony and presents himself to the public:

**Latin:** *Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam: Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum [first name]. Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem [surname], qui sibi nomen imposuit [papal name].*

**English:** *I announce to you a great joy; we have a pope: The most eminent and most reverend lord, Lord [first name] Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church [surname] who has taken the name [papal name].*

Once the Pope finishes his speech, it is the start of a new Papacy.

### Ending of a Papacy

A Pope ends his reign as Supreme Pontiff once he quits Discord, he can do this by announcing to the public or commanding the Camerlengo to ring the Bell of San Marco, which symbolizes the Pope has ended his reign. The next day, a prayer and ceremony is held in honor of the now outgoing Pope. In worse case scenario, the Pope died in real life and a Online Funeral and Prayer is held. Ending a Papal Reign is super serious and gets a lot of Discord attention.

## Titles

### Regnal Name

Popes adopt a new name on their accession, known as papal name, in Italian and Latin. Currently, after a new pope is elected and accepts the election, he is asked "By what name shall you be called?". The new pope chooses the name by which he will be known from that point on. The senior cardinal deacon, or cardinal protodeacon, then appears on the balcony of Saint Peter's to proclaim the new pope by his birth name, and announce his papal name in Latin. It's customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into all local languages. It is actually optional for Popes to do this, they can just choose their Username or First name, but it is considered formal and it honors the previous Popes.

### Official List of Titles

The official list of titles of the pope, in the order in which they are given in the *Annuario Pontificio*, is:

Bishop of Discordia, Vicar of the Bishop of Rome, Successor of the Convoker of the 1st Discordian Council, Supreme Pontiff of the Discordian Catholic Community, Primate of Pontificalia, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Pontifical Church, Sovereign of the Pontifical Server, Servant of the servants of God.

The best-known title, that of "pope", does not appear in the official list, but is commonly used in the titles of documents, and appears, in abbreviated form, in their signatures. Thus St. Pius I is signed as ''Pius PP I.'' standing for *''papa pontifex''* (''pope and pontiff'').

## Political Role

The Political Role of the Supreme Pontiff is largely in Religion, they do not have power over secular democracies but they do on secular monarchies, monarchies do not adopt the ''separation of church and state'' thus the monarch must submit to the decisions of the Pope, but in democracies they do but of course, secular democratic leaders can always follow the Pope whenever they wish, this only works on Catholic Servers and servers which follow other religions does not submit to the Pope, except for the Catholic Population in them.

## Powers and Responsibilities

The Pope is responsible for the Discordian Catholic Community's unity, he must keep the Catholics in Discord from fighting each other and instead stand united and cooperate under the Lord and God.

The Powers of the Pope are the following:

* Ordain Priests, Bishops, Deacons, Archbishops, Metropolitans, Primates
* Excommunicate users, which leads to servers banning the user
* Organize Crusades and protect the Catholic Community from enemies and terrorists.

## Lengths of Papal Reign

So far there have been 1 Pope, that is St. Pius I who has been ruling for 2 Months. He was the convoker of the 1st Discordian Council and founder of the Pontifical Discord Server.

## See also

* St. Pius I
* List of Popes of the Discordian Church