While St. Peter’s Basilica is not the official seat of the bishop of Rome (the Pope), the basilica and square serve as the emotional and spiritual center of the Catholic faith. The reason for this is that the church was built on the assumed burial site of Peter. The current iteration of the church and space was designed and built during the Renaissance period. It was designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. St. Peter’s is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest church in the world. Due to the excesses and corruption of the Papal office during the Renaissance, many have regarded the whole St. Peter’s space to be it compromised in its integrity and true purpose. The official mother church of Catholicism is the Papal Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.
