Religion was central and widespread in Roman culture, but it was not organized. Jörg Rüpke says there was no official "religious" personage or institution – such as a pope or a seminary – that oversaw Roman religion, and "no such thing as a formal religious education" even for religious leaders, but that doesn't mean there was no oversight at all. Private religion and its public practices were under the control of public officials from local magistrates to governors and emperors as "one of the basic elements of the system. This control was exercized primarily by the Senate". Religion and politics were inextricably intertwined in Roman empire.