Leo, Bishop of Rome
The first Pope, from 440-461. In June of 452, was sent as an emissary to negotiate for peace with Attila the Hun as he advanced on Rome. When Attila withdrew, probably for reasons of his own, the Bishop of Rome assumed a new role regardless. And again on June 2, 455, he met Gaiseric, King of the Vandals from Scandinavia. Gaiseric also spared Rome, even though the imperial army had fled, at the imploration of Biship Leo. He did not destroy Rome, but only pillaged it for fourteen days, hen left. Leo was credited for saving Rome. Leo provided for the first time the biblical and theological basis of the papal claim. On his acceptance of the office of the bishop of Rome, Leo raised the status of the bishop’s office to that of "Supreme Head of all Christendom." Christ built his church on Peter, the bishops are successors to Peter, thus the bishops, and ultimately the Roman bishop, held the church’s final authority, according to Leo. In 445, the Emperor Valentinian III issued a decree supporting Leo’s claim of primacy, thus making his claim imperial law.
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