Although the word "pontiff" is now most often used of the Pope, in itself it refers to any bishop, so that the phrase "Roman Pontiff" is not tautological, but means "Bishop of Rome", as "Alexandrian Pontiff" means Bishop of Alexandria

A pontiff (from Latin pontifex) was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the principal college of priests (Collegium Pontificum). The term was later applied to any high or chief priest and, in ecclesiastical usage, to a bishop, and more particularly to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope or "Roman Pontiff".