What era does the death of the Pope end?

I don't get it.
I have been watching the TV coverage of the death of the Pope and I want to know what era has ended.
When FDR died, when Churchill died, de Gaulle, When Martin Luther King died, when Nelson Mandela dies I can understand what "the end of an era" means; but this was the Pope. In a few weeks there will be another one. What did he do? What can a Pope do?
I'm not a Catholic and I can understand what the Pope's death means to Catholics, but why is it "the end of an era?" Why should it mean something to me? Except for the fact that anyone's death diminishes me, why is this death more important than the passing of any religious leader?
Ah, well. Sorry. I'm just ranting.