[OLD REGGIE]

All bishops are basically in the line of Apostolic Succession. The bit about the "unbroken" line of Popes means (I think--I'd have to see the context) that the office of Bishop of Rome can be traced all the way back from A.D. 2005 to its establishment by St. Peter.

I have no problem with the definition of "Apostolic Succession", though I don't agree it is necessary or that it is shown from Scripture to be a requirement. But that's another story. :-)

Well, yes there is a published list of "Popes" and "Anti-Popes" going all the way back to Peter. It is this list which I believe is imaginative if nothing else.

[Claud]

Well, yes there is a published list of "Popes" and "Anti-Popes" going all the way back to Peter. It is this list which I believe is imaginative if nothing else.

Fair enough, but can I ask why? Eusebius and other early historians give the list from Peter to the 300s A.D., and from then on I'm pretty sure we have contemporary documentation in every century till the present.