Chess History: The Bishops

How does a person become a bishop? There are over 200,000 Catholic priests in the world today, and 2,946 Catholic bishops, according to the website Bible.ca. The role of the bishop is to oversee a network of priests and their parishes, also called a diocese. There are three positions of power in the Catholic church: priests, bishops and one pope. The earliest a priest may become a bishop is 35 years old and they must resign there bishop title before the age if 75.

The Hagia Sophia Cathederal in Istanbul, Turkey was built for the first time by the emperor Constantine the Great in the 3rd Century and he appointed the first bishop there for the Holy Roman Empire.