The Apostles were the first bishops in what was later referred to as the CATHOLIC CHURCH. And they carried the ONE TRUE FAITH forward in time, right down to today. You can trace it - you really can! An unbroken line of succession!
Snicker
The Catholic Church can't even prove Linus was even a Bishop. They took is name from a list of three names listed as friends of Paul mentioned only ONCE in scripture and not in any secular or other writings.
The word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning "Father". In the early centuries of Christianity, this title was applied, especially in the east, to all bishops and other senior clergy, and later became reserved in the west to the Bishop of Rome, a reservation made official only in the 11th century. [Schatz, Klaus (1996). Papal Primacy. Liturgical Press. pp. 28–29. ISBN 9780814655221.]
The earliest record of the use of this title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope Heraclas of Alexandria [Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica Book VII, chapter 7.7]
The title was from the early 3rd century a general term used to refer to all bishops. ["Pope", Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 2005]
Oooops. What's this "unbroken line" nonsense?
No, you really can't.