Leader in Rome closer to Spanish Pope (7)
I believe the answer is:
hadrian
'leader in rome' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'closer to spanish pope' is the wordplay.
'closer to' says to take the final letters.
'pope' becomes 'adrian' (I've seen this before).
The final letter of 'spanish' is 'h'.
'h'+'adrian'='HADRIAN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hadrian that I've seen before include "Roman Emperor after Trajan" , "Roman emperor who visited Britain" , "Roman emperor and wallbuilder" , "Roman emperor who built the British wall" , "His wall crosses northern Britain" .)