RP McBrien: Lives of the Popes

I strongly recommend this as a very readable Church History, even though I find McBrien sometimes very disturbingly harsh and critical. This format, the lives in chronological sequence, including antipopes, and also a good index, a summary of Encyclicals, and a fascinating list of firsts and lasts, seems a very useful and enjoyable summary of the contributions and difficulties of our Popes.
It seems very curious we have only 1 very brief review and 1 mention, even though more than 200 members have copies.

There are many sections in the McBrien book that I find particularly interesting; one is a kind of appendix (p 453-457) titled Papal Firsts and Last. Sadly, many of the lasts and a few of the firsts that he cites are very negative from my point of view. But I think I'll post some of the firsts that I think are worth remembering:
The first Pope to function as the sole Bishop of Rome was Pius I (c 142-155). Can anyone recall the reasons for this change? Would anyone like to know them?

McBrien cites Victor I (189-198) as the first Pope to assert his authority beyond the Rome diocese, by demanding churches to follow the Roman practice of celebrating Easter on the Sunday following Passover.

The first Pope to use the Lateran Palace as residence was Pope St Melchiades (311-314). The Palace was given to the Church by Emperor Constantine.

The first Pope to issue legally binding decretals to the Bishops (in the West) was St Siricius (384-399). McBrien comments these were in the form of imperial edicts, and says the oldest known surviving document was dated 385 to Bishop Timerius of Tarragona in response to questions about Church discipline.

Pope Liberius (352-66) was the first Pope not to be listed as a saint. He had approved excommunication of St Athanasius for opposing the Arian heresy, although only after he had been exiled by the emperor for supporting and defending Athanasius and also after an Antipope Felix had been elected.