The Popes of yore

What will you say to Christ, Who is the Head of the universal Church, in the scrutiny of the last judgment, having attempted to put all His members under yourself by the appellation of Universal,... Certainly Peter, the first of the Apostles, himself a member of the universal Church, Paul, Andrew, John, - what were they but heads of particular communities. ... And of all the saints, not one has asked himself to be called universal. ... The prelates of this Apostolic See, which by the Providence of God I serve, had the honor offered them of being called universal ... But not yet one of them has ever wished to be called by such a title, or seized upon this ill-advised name, lest if, in virtue of the rank of the pontificate he should take to himself the glory of singularity, he might seem to have denied it to all his brethren.
St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome