According to tradition, the history of the Catholic Church begins with Jesus Christ and his teachings (c. 4 BC – c. AD 30) and the Catholic Church is a continuation of the early Christian community established by The Disciples Of Jesus.[1] The Church considers its bishops to be the successors to Jesus's apostles and the Church's leader, the Bishop of Rome (also known as the Pope) to be the sole successor to Saint Peter,[2] who ministered in Rome in the first century AD, after his appointment by Jesus as head of the church.[3][4] By the end of the 2nd century, bishops began congregating in regional synods to resolve doctrinal and policy issues.[5] By the 3rd century, the bishop of Rome began to act as a court of appeals for problems that other bishops could not resolve.[6]