The Pope

The pope is the successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome and visible head of the whole Church. He holds his charge from the one Christ entrusted to Peter: the primacy over the apostles and over the whole Church, to govern her and keep her united. This charge passes from Peter to his successors, and it is this that the pope exercises today.

The word itself speaks. « Pope » comes from the Greek pappas (πάππας), passed into Latin as papa, the familiar name for a father. The first centuries gave it to several bishops; in the West it was gradually reserved to the bishop of Rome, to say that in watching over the whole Church he is her common father.

You are Peter

At Caesarea, Simon confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. This confession came from the Father: “it was not a human being who revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 16:17 And it is to the one who has just received it that Jesus gives a new name and a mission: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of the realm of the dead will not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 Jesus spoke Aramaic, and in his tongue the name given to Simon and the rock of the promise are one single word, kepha (כֵּיפָא), “the rock”: you are Kepha, and on this kepha I will build my Church. Greek rendered the name as Petros and the rock as petra, because the name required a masculine form; Aramaic makes no difference between the man and the rock on which the Church is built.

The keys of the Kingdom

Jesus then hands Peter the keys. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19 The image comes from the Old Testament. In the royal house of Judah, the king entrusted to a steward the key of the palace, the charge of governing in his name. “I will lay on his shoulder the key of the house of David: what he opens, none shall shut; what he shuts, none shall open.” Isaiah 22:22 Peter receives this charge for the Kingdom of Christ: the authority to open and to close, to bind and to loose, in the name of his Lord.

The power to bind and to loose will later be given to all the apostles. « whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. » Matthew 18:18 The keys, however, are handed to Peter alone: he alone receives the charge of steward of the house, which sets his place apart within the college of the Twelve.

Feed my sheep

The promise becomes a charge after the Resurrection. Three times, the Risen One asks Peter if he loves him, and three times entrusts his flock to him. “Take care of my lambs… Be the shepherd of my sheep… Take care of my sheep.” John 21:15-17 Christ questions three times, as many as Peter had denied him in the courtyard of the high priest, and to each profession of love answers a handing over of the flock. Raised up from his fall, Peter thus receives the keeping of all the sheep of Christ, the other shepherds included.

The first of the apostles

Peter’s place appears throughout the Gospel. The lists of the apostles always name him first. “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, called Peter.” Matthew 10:2 When the Lord questions the Twelve, it is Peter who answers for all; he is the first to enter the empty tomb, the first to proclaim the Gospel on the morning of Pentecost. This constant precedence manifests the charge the Lord entrusted to him.

The Rock and the rock

The sole foundation of the Church is Christ. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid: Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11 Peter holds his role from this unique foundation: he is the visible rock by which Christ, the invisible Rock, maintains his Church in time. In giving Simon his own name of Rock, the Lord makes him participate in what he himself is, remaining the one source from which Peter receives everything.

A charge that remains

The Church is built to last until the end of time, and her visible foundation lasts with her, handed on from Peter to his successors. From the very beginning, the office left vacant by the failing of an apostle is entrusted to another: to replace Judas, Peter cites the psalm. “May another take over his office.” Acts 1:20 Peter finishes his course at Rome, where he sheds his blood; the bishop of Rome is his heir, and holds the same primacy over the whole Church. On this charge rests the charism by which he confirms his brothers in the faith, which Jesus had promised him on the evening of the Supper. “But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32 This charism holds from the promise of Christ and not from the merits of the one who exercises it: Peter, who had denied his Master, was raised up and then charged to strengthen his brothers. It is the foundation of papal infallibility.

A real power of governance

The primacy of Peter and of his successors is a real power to govern, and not a simple precedence of honour. It is called the primacy of jurisdiction, from the word that names the authority to command and to decide: the keys handed to Peter are keys of governance. The First Vatican Council, in 1870, defined it: the pope receives over the whole Church a full and supreme, ordinary and immediate power, exercised directly over the shepherds as over each of the faithful. This power strengthens that of the bishops and keeps it in unity.

Papal infallibility

Infallibility is the gift by which the pope, when he solemnly defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, is preserved from error by the assistance of the Holy Spirit. It prolongs the prayer of Christ that Peter’s faith may not fail. The pope engages this gift only when four conditions are met: he speaks as supreme pastor and teacher of all Christians; he uses his supreme apostolic authority; he defines a doctrine of faith or morals; he declares it to be held by the whole Church. Such an act is called a definition ex cathedra, “from the chair” of Peter. Outside these conditions, in his homilies, his decisions of governance or his personal opinions, the pope teaches and deserves respect, without being covered by this gift. The gift preserves from error by keeping the deposit received: the pope keeps the faith handed down from the Apostles and sets it forth faithfully, without adding any new word, for revelation was completed with the Apostles.

The infallibility of the Church

This gift of the pope flows from a promise made to the whole Church. Christ assured her against error and gave her his Spirit. “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” John 16:13 The Church therefore cannot fail in the faith. This infallibility, which belongs to the whole body, is exercised in two ways: by the pope alone, in a solemn definition, or by the whole body of bishops gathered in council around him; in both cases, it is the same faith of the Church that is spoken, to settle matters when its unity is at stake. A council holds its authority from its union with the pope, and the idea that an assembly of bishops might judge him and be superior to him, which is called conciliarism, has been set aside by the Church. The First Vatican Council therefore made clear that the definitions of the pope hold good by themselves, and not from the consent of the Church: they suffice of themselves to bind. This gift leaves the human condition of the pope intact: he can sin, err in his judgments, fail in his conduct, and history has known popes both holy and unworthy; it makes him neither holy nor omniscient, and keeps only his solemn word from error. The Church lived this assurance from the beginning and defined it in proper terms at the First Vatican Council, in 1870. Its solemn exercise remains rare: in more than twenty centuries, the pope has spoken thus only to fix what touches the heart of the faith, as when he proclaimed the Immaculate Conception, in 1854, and the Assumption, in 1950.

This infallibility reaches beyond solemn definitions alone. When the bishops dispersed throughout the world, in communion with the pope, agree in teaching one same truth of faith or morals as to be held definitively, they too teach without error: this is the ordinary and universal magisterium, which keeps the deposit and hands it on without a solemn act being required each time.

The first successors

The New Testament perhaps already names the first links of the Roman chain. The second letter to Timothy greets a Linus whom tradition, from Saint Irenaeus, recognises as the first successor of Peter at Rome. “Eubulus greets you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.” 2 Timothy 4:21 Further on appears Clement, that fellow worker of Paul whom tradition recognises as the fourth pope: “… with Clement and my other coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.” Philippians 4:3 The first of those who held the place of Peter are thus inscribed in Scripture itself.

The witness of the first centuries

Even before the end of the apostolic age, the Church of Rome exercises this primacy and makes it recognised. Around the year 96, the bishop of Rome, Saint Clement, writes to the Church of Corinth to restore the order troubled by a revolt against its pastors, and he does so with the authority of one who answers for a distant Church. Soon after, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, led to Rome to die there, greets the Roman Church as the one “that presides in charity.” At the end of the second century, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons teaches that every Church must agree with the Church of Rome because of its more excellent origin, and he draws up the list of its bishops from Peter to show the faith handed down without break. In the third century, Saint Cyprian of Carthage sees in the chair of Peter the root and the source of the Church’s unity. The primacy given to Peter is thus read, without interruption, in the life of the Church of the first centuries.

Vicar of Christ

The pope holds the place of Christ as visible shepherd of the flock that the Lord leads invisibly: this is what his title of vicar of Christ means, the one who acts in the name of another and in his place. The bishops, successors of the apostles, form one single college of which he is the head, as Peter was among the Twelve; and one is in the Church of Christ only by remaining in communion with him.

Servant of the servants of God

This primacy is given to serve, not to dominate. The greatest in the Church makes himself the servant of all, following Christ who washed his disciples’ feet; and Peter himself teaches it to the shepherds. “Shepherd the flock of God entrusted to you, watching over it, not by compulsion but willingly, according to God; not for shameful gain but with devotion; not lording it over those in your charge, but becoming examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:2-3 Hence one of the most ancient titles of humility of the pope, that of servant of the servants of God, which Saint Gregory the Great, pope around the year 600, loved to bear and which has remained attached to the charge.