In Roman antiquity, a pontiff () was a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, article ''Pontifex'', pp. 939-942
/ref> The term ''pontiff'' was later applied to any high or chief priest and, in

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

ecclesiastical usage, to

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, especially the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, who is sometimes referred to as the Roman pontiff or the supreme pontiff.

Etymology

The English term derives through Old French ''pontif'' from Latin ''pontifex'', a word commonly held to come from the Latin root words ''pons'', ''pont-'' (bridge) + ''facere'' (to do, to make), and so to have the literal meaning of "bridge-builder", presumably between mankind and the deity/deities. Uncertainty prevailing, this may be only a

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

, but it may also recall ancient tasks and magic rites associated with bridges. The term may also be an allusion to Ancient Roman Religious rituals for placating the gods and spirits associated with the Tiber River, for instance. Also, Varro cites this position as meaning "able to do".

Ancient Rome

There were four chief

colleges A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

of priests in ancient Rome, the most illustrious of which was that of the ''pontifices''. The others were those of the '' augures'', the '' quindecimviri sacris faciundis'', and the '' epulones''. The same person could be a member of more than one of these groups. Including the '' pontifex maximus'', who was president of the college, there were originally three or five ''pontifices'', but the number increased over the centuries, finally becoming 16 under

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

. By the third century BC the pontiffs had assumed control of the state religious system.

Biblical usage

Inspiration for the Catholic use of the name ''pontiff'' for a bishop comes from the use of the same word for the Jewish High Priest in the original Latin translation of the Bible, the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

, where it appears 59 times. For example at , "pontifices" (plural) is the Latin term used for "The Chief Priests". And in the Vulgate version of the Letter to the Hebrews, "pontifex" (singular) is repeatedly used with reference to the then still extant High Priesthood in Judaism, and analogously suggesting

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

as the ultimate high priest.

Catholicism

The word "pontiff", though now most often used in relation to a

, technically refers to any

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

bishop. The phrase "Roman pontiff" is therefore not tautological, but means "Bishop of Rome". In the same way, a Pontifical Mass is a

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

celebrated by a bishop, not necessarily a pope. Note also the '' Roman Pontifical'' (the liturgical book containing the prayers and ceremonies for rites used by a bishop) and " pontificals", the insignia of his order that a bishop uses when celebrating Pontifical Mass.The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ), article ''pontificals'' While the pontificals primarily belong to bishops, they have also been granted by papal favour or legally established Church custom to certain presbyters (e.g., abbots).

Other religions

The word has been employed in English also for

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

s (

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

) and swamis and

jagadguru , literally meaning " of the universe", is a title used in . Traditionally, it has been bestowed upon or used for belonging to the school (among the six traditional schools of thought in Hinduism) who have written Sanskrit commentaries on the ...

s (

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

References