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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This largely has to do with who was in charge when Christianity emerged and who spread Christianity throughout the world. The answer to both is the Roman Empire. Rome was not just the most powerful force in the world at the time. It was basically the most powerful force the world had ever seen up to that point. While the Romans were extremely hostile (ie wanton murdering) towards the first Christians, after Constantine converted in the 3rd century Christianity became essentially the state religion of the biggest empire in the world. And while it’s important to be close to your place of birth, it’s far more important to be close to the boss. The boss of Rome was in Rome, so that’s where the papacy set up shop.
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