papacy

American  

[pey-puh-see] / ˈpeɪ pə si /

noun

Roman Catholic Church.

papacies plural

1. the office, dignity, or jurisdiction of the pope.

2. the system of ecclesiastical government in which the pope is recognized as the supreme head.

3. the period during which a certain pope is in office.

4. the succession or line of the popes.

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papacy British  

/ ˈpeɪpəsɪ /

noun

1. the office or term of office of a pope

2. the system of government in the Roman Catholic Church that has the pope as its head

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papacy Cultural  

1. The office or position of the pope.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antipapacy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• papacies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of papacy

1350–1400; Middle English papacie < Medieval Latin pāpātia. See pope, -acy

Explanation

Use the noun papacy when you're talking about the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the particular authority he holds. The papacy supports reducing poverty, but it does not support women becoming priests. The pope is the head of the Catholic Church in Rome, and his office or government is the papacy. You can use the word for official positions the church holds, or to talk about the history of a pope's term. For example, you might say, "The papacy of Pope Benedict XVI ended when he resigned." The root of papacy is the Latin papatia, "papal office," which comes from papa, or "pope."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

papacy papacies

The Chicago-born pontiff has made the defence of migrants one of the pillars of his papacy, like his predecessor, Francis, praising those who help the needy and decrying mass deportations in the United States.

From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026

A.I. has been a key motif of Leo’s nascent papacy, from early speeches to advisory groups to the reception of tech execs who’ve approached the holy man on their own.

From Slate ● May 28, 2026

Pope Leo has presented the first major teaching document of his papacy, warning that artificial intelligence needs to be "disarmed".

From BBC ● May 25, 2026

His reign overlapped with the papacy of Hadrian I, which lasted from 772 to 795.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

They kept the papacy weak and unstable, standing with their weapons in hand right under the eyes of the Pope.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

He became an authority on the papacies of five popes - One of his most notable assignments was the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

History will likely view the papacies of Francis and Leo as a transitional era for a Catholic Church slowly adjusting to a world in which the church’s future lies increasingly in the Global South.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

There’s no satisfactory answer to that, although it’s fair to say that the papacies of Francis and Leo represent the first serious efforts to reckon with those more recent crimes.

From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2026

They would do well to remember, however, that most of the polling data collected during the previous two papacies strongly indicated that American Catholics are not shy about deviating from Rome when it suited them.

From US News ● Sep. 28, 2015

"Ten papacies would not be sufficient to satisfy this swarm of relatives," wrote Gianandrea Boccaccio in November, 1492, to the Duke of Ferrara.

From Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day by Gregorovius, Ferdinand

Related Words

• pontiff