47. Leo I (The Great)

Pope Leo I is one of only two popes to officially earn "the Great" epithet, and is by far the most significant church leader in the early church. He had a prolific international career long before his papacy, and he would go on to be an absolute giant of history. In his episode, we discuss the various ways he consolidated papal primacy as a real thing and drove off the major heresies of the day, the christological debates of the 5th century and the major steps towards orthodoxy, and how an old man pope stood up to the fiercest threats that Rome had ever faced. And thanks to Ben Vanbuskirk of Fukushima Laser Shark for our Leo Ditty!