Commenting on Dictatus Papae (which they date to c. 1090), Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal wrote:
Section 1 means that the Roman
church received the primacy over the whole church directly from Christ. Section
8 is based on the forged Donation of Constantine, according to which the emperor
gave the pope the right to use the imperial insignia. In section 11 it is not
clear what name is meant. It may be “universal” as in section 2. The bishop of
Rome claimed the exclusive right to call himself pope, apostolic, and
universal. Papa or pope was at first the common title of all priests, and is
still so in the Greek church. But in the course of time it was limited in the
west to the bishop of Rome. “Apostolic” was at first applied to all bishiops,
but eventually the bishop of Rome claimed the exclusive right to it and forbade
all other bishops to use it. Since the bishop of Rome was the head of the whole
church he was the only one who could call himself “universal.” The right of
ordaining, section 14, that is, of raising ot the clerical rank, belonged to
each bishop, but he could exercise it only in his own diocese. But the bishop of
Rome had the whole world for his diocese, and hence he could ordain any one, no
matter to what bishopric he belonged. In explanation of section 23 the
following passage from pope Symmachus (498-514) is offered (Hinschius, “Decretales,”
p. 666). “We do not judge that St. Peter received from the Lord with the prerogative
of his chair [that is, with his primacy] the right to sin. But he passed on to
his successors the perennial dower of his merits with his heritage of
innocence. Who can doubt that he who is exalted to the height of apostolic dignity
is holy?” (A Source Book for Medieval History: Selected Documents Illustrating
the History of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar
Holmes McNeal [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905], 138-39)
