[EN] The article is an introduction to the reading of magna Encyclopedia dei Papi, work presented in Bologna in 2001. Biography and history are part of an old tradition in the case of the Pope state. The institution of the Pope power passed through the prohibition of the critical analysis and the control of the documentary sources, which only were within reach of apologetic projects. The Modern Age was characterized by a deliberate exclusion of the Pope of the historiographic knowledge. The rejection of the papal power by the protestant Reformation was not based on historical investigations but on the darkest prophetic tradition. The history of the Papal state itself began with the Lutheran inspiration of Leopold von Ranke and the catholic answer of Ludwing Pastor.

[ES] El art?culo es una introducci?n a la lectura de la magna Enciclopedia dei Papi, obra presentada en Bolonia en el a?o 2001. Biograf?a e historia tienen en el caso del Papado una tradici?n antigua. La construcci?n del poder papal pas? por la prohibici?n del an?lisis cr?tico y el control de las fuentes documentales, las cuales s?lo estuvieron al alcance de proyectos apolog?ticos. La Edad Moderna se caracteriz? por una deliberada exclusi?n del Papado del conocimiento historiogr?fico. El rechazo de la Reforma protestante al poder papal no se bas? en investigaciones hist?ricas sino en la m?s oscura tradici?n prof?tica. La historia del Papado propiamente dicha comenz? con la inspiraci?n luterana de Leopold von Ranke y la respuesta cat?lica de Ludwing Pastor.