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

Licence believes this change in England's relationship with the papacy probably took place after Harold became king in January 1066.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

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

Although he made use of his reputation for generosity in order to gain the papacy, Pope Julius II then decided not to maintain this reputation, in order to be able to wage war.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

He reported from Algeria, Vietnam and China, but is best known for his time in Rome as the BBC's Vatican correspondent, where he covered the papacies of five popes.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

As a child, he knew the names of all the popes and the dates of their papacies, as well as the names and pertinent dates of England’s kings and queens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 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

For nearly three decades and three papacies, the United States has been the focal point of the crisis, and the American bishops have been pushed to the forefront of the church’s response.

From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2018

Byzantine empires, Spanish Armadas, triple-crowned papacies, Russian despotisms, this is the way of them, and will be to the end of the world.

From Westward Ho!, or, the voyages and adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the county of Devon, in the reign of her most glorious majesty Queen Elizabeth by Charles Kingsley

Related Words

• pontiff