Almost everything about catholic faith revolves around events that (allegedly) happened in the Middle East. Most of the holiest sites seem to be there in relation to the bible’s depiction of events. So wouldn’t it make sense that the pope/vatican would place its power center as near as possible from the holiest sites? How did it come to be Rome? Was this a decision based on the current political climate at the time or was there a reason based on faith/rethoric of the church?
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For complicated and controversial reasons, early Christianity took hold and spread much better among Greco-Roman gentiles than among Jews. Christian power centers naturally corresponded with the power centers of the Roman Empire, namely Rome and Constantinople. There is no faith-based reason for the significance of these cities.
After the western Roman Empire fell, Rome and Constantinople lost touch with each other culturally and their religious practices diverged. This eventually led to the great schism between the Catholic (Roman/Latin) church and the Orthodox (Greek) church in 1054. That is why Catholicism is centered on Rome alone.
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