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The governmental authority of the pope of Rome is a historical development, partly in response to the diminution of patriarchal authority in the East, partly in response to the disappearance of imperial authority in Italy and elsewhere. Antioch and Alexandria fell under Muslim rule, which gradually sapped the vigor of each. Much the same happened to Constantinople. Moscovy apppeared, of course as the "Third Rome," and as the successor state of Byzantium. much as the German Empire was that of the western Roman Empire. The papacy, of course had suffered a rough patch at the same time as Byzantium reached its high point after fending off the Arabs. It had recovered, however, which as much as anything explains the clash with Constantinople. Manzikert was the 9/11 of the time; it changed everything eventually. The Turkish invasion, the struggle for power between Rome and the German emperor, and New Rome's decline ended in disaster for all parties. The union of East and West was never in the cards after the Fourth Crusade.