That well-known font of historic information .-- The Mirror -- has a little timeline of the history of the papacy. Here's the section which corresponds to the period of our purview (I tend to cut things off around Constantine, if you've never noticed):

ANNUS DOMINI Birth of Jesus Christ

AD 33 Christ is crucified. He had chosen 12 apostles, including Peter, whom he told: "You are the rock upon which I shall build my Church."

36-67 Peter and his fellow apostle Paul found the church and move its headquarters to Rome. Peter becomes the first "Bishop of Rome".

37-41 Roman Emperor Caligula declares himself god. He passes sentence of death on anyone who sees the top of his prematurely bald head

64 The great fire of Rome is blamed on the Christians, who are massacred. Emperor Nero infamously played his lyre while Rome was burning.

67 Peter is executed in Rome for his faith. He requests to be crucified upside down because he feels unworthy of suffering the same fate as Christ.70 The Gospel of Mark is written in Rome, possibly by Peter's interpreter.

75-100 Other books of the New Testament and Book of Revelations written.

183 Pope Victor becomes the first African Pope.250 Rome steps up persecution of Christians, leading to martyrs becoming revered as saints

253-305 secution of Christians reaches its peak under Roman Emperor Valerian. He wrecks the church by executing all bishops, priests, and deacons.306 Emperor Constantine becomes the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire

311-314 The reign of the second African Pope, known as Mechiades or Militiades. All three African popes were later made saints.

313 Christianity is legalised by Constantine after 300 years. The Edict of Milan banned persecution and placed Christians on the same level as pagans

Not bad ... not sure why the Caligula ref worked its way into that. Nice that they said 'played his lyre' instead of the usually anachronistic 'fiddled' in regards to Nero.