Actor Liam Neeson narrates CNN’s new six-part Original Series called Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History. The series events in the Church’s history from St. Peter to Pope Francis. 

Glass Entertainment Group and Rearrange TV debuted the series on Sunday with the premiere episode, The Rise of the Pope. The episode detailed the papacy and the origins of the Catholic Church, including its spread throughout Europe. 

The series includes comments from well-known Catholics. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, Bishop Paul Tighe and others talk about the rise of the Church.

Neeson said that he learned a lot about the influence of the Catholic church by narrating the series. “Ever since a man, claiming to be the Son of God, was nailed to a wooden cross over 2,000 years ago, the Catholic religion has had a huge and profound influence and impact on our society.”

He added that the series “sheds a detailed light” on how the popes and the Catholic Church became a “prevailing force through fair means and foul.”

Over time, the papacy became a symbol of strength and endurance, said Jeff Fortenberry, R-NE. “It’s this idea of the papacy, being the Rock — a source of permanence in an age of anxiety that people know is steady.”

“The [papacy] survives because it continues to speak to the deepest needs that people have,” said author Susan Wise Bauer, PhD. “They need to know that someone is looking out for them. And all earthly institutions are flawed, but to have an institution which is dedicated to looking out in a fatherly manner for people who are lost and astray and suffering — that need will never go away.”

Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History will regularly air Sunday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT.