Pontifex Maximus
the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome, open only to patricians until 254 BCE, when a plebeian first occupied this post; gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Roman Republic and Empire. The words meant 'greatest bridge-builder'. It was a religious post under the Roman Republic, and a mostly ceremonial post under the Roman Empire. The term was later used in the Roman Catholic Church for the Pope.