I have argued in this book that the Liber pontificalis constructed a distinctive image of the popes and a particular representation of their history, of their role as successors to St Peter, and of the city of Rome itself as a holy city of Christian saints and martyrs. The city of Rome was transformed in the imagination as well as in the text. I have shown how the Liber pontificalis acts as a prism through which we can observe the politics and ideology of Rome’s transformation from imperial city to Christian capital, the way the Bishop of Rome is represented as establishing a visible display of power within the city, and how the text reiterates the spiritual and ministerial role of the bishop both within Rome and for the wider Christian community.