Early Christians started trying to determine what writings to include within about 60 years after the death of the last apostle, and within about 100 years after that, the New Testament stood as it is today. It didn't take hundreds of years. Although a few individuals first made recommendations, it was really committees that made the decisions. At that point in time the papacy hadn't even been started; nor was the See of Rome even in existence.

There were several other writings that cropped up over the years, but the earliest church authorities rejected them on various grounds. One of the earliest attempts to determine what truly belonged and what did not was made by Polycarp, who was a personal student of John's, the last surviving disciple. Many early Christian leaders and thinkers around this time began collecting the surviving works of the earliest Christians, in order to pass things along as accurately as they could. Much of the church's time in the first couple of centuries was spent in refuting various error-filled tangents, and the first several councils spent a lot of time dealing with them.

Perhaps today for Catholics the Pope has precedence over Scripture, but not all Christians are Catholic. The Protestant version of the Bible does not include several books, most of which occur between the two Testaments. The Greek Orthodox church, likewise, has not recognized the supremacy of the pope since early in Christian history, and thus has not accepted many of the decisions of the councils.

Yet all three major branches of Christianity agree on the fundamentals, and all reject most of these "lost" gospels.
Source(s):
http://www.ntcanon.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenical_council

http://www.aboundingjoy.com/Bible%20studies/Early%20Church%20Timeline.htm


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