Learn the twisty history of how the Pope is elected in this free 30-minute lecture provided by the Great Courses. Professor Thomas F.X. Noble guides listeners, starting with Saint Peter’s origins in Rome as the first pope, and how the church Cardinals became key officers in electing every Pope thereafter. The papacy went through a period of political interference throughout the Middle Ages that led to a succession of differing election methods that were often factional, or overtly biased, leading to the more streamlined Papal succession ritual we know today.