why does the pope have the power he has?

Question

he is just a man right?

Answer 1

he is just a man, but he is also the head of a large group of people, he dictates thier beliefs, he is in the lineage of peter, "upon this rock....." but he is still a man. he has power becuase of world politics for many centuries now, history reveals much about the lives of the popes, and during sometimes, it was very corrupt, st peter's basilca, as amazing as it is, was bout with money given by wealthy folks for the forgiveness of sin, im sure jesus and peter dropped a tear on that....but he is a man, he speaks for one group, he is not the wordly embodment of god

Answer 2

The Pope, or specifically the Arch Bishop of Rome is the highest moral authority for Western Catholics.

If it wasnt for the break up of the Catholic church in the middle ages, the Pope would have been even more powerful and held more territory in Eastern world.

In the begining, there were several popes but Rome's Pope decided he was the other popes's rightful leader and mouthpiece of Christ. The other churches disagreed and now they are called Eastern Orthodox and coptic.

Centuries later, a group of hertics in Britain had enough of the Pope's self-assumed power and became what is now Protestants (Baptist, Lutherans, Methodists etc.).

During the Crusades, the Catholic church set out to wipe out all non-catholics, including Jews, Muslims and Eastern Orthodox/Coptic Christians.

The catholic church has lots of money, mostly because European countries and Scandinavian countries still have mandatory taxes that entitle money to the church.

The Pope can essentially buy his way out of or into anything.

Answer 3

He is just an man. However, he is a man who has dedicated his life to serving the people of the Catholic church since his ordination as a priest.

Not withstanding how did the the "Pope" become so powerful is a good question.

Well, simply put , in cannon/scripture the Pope or Pontiff is the chosen successor to the original leader of the church "St. Peter" the apostle of Jesus.

Specifically the pontif is or originally was simply "The Bishop of Rome", however since the apostle Peter was though / is traditionally considered the chosen of Jesus and Peter's ministry was primarily in the imperial city (Rome), for the first couple of hundred years, the job of the "Popes" (Peter, Clement etc) was to settle liturgical disputes or differences of opinion between difference parishes of the early Christian Church over scripture or calm insurrections among the peoples etc.

Over time, the Pope / the Pontiff took on increasing significance as the church grew in influence. Where princes / kings of Europe would call on Rome to bless their call to arms or come to the military aid of the Pope.

The concept took a final form in the concept of Infalability, stating that the Pope's decisions were directly inspired by communion with Jesus/God, however practically and currently, the matter of infalability is one of a deeply practical need. The idea of final resolution of any matter of the the faith.

From the perspective of the US , think of it like a Supreme Court , Chief Justice, like the Supreme Court only matters considered important or relevant were / would be considered by the Bishops or Cardinals and/or the Pope himself. Unlike the Supreme Court, decisions are/were not generally subject to appeal , but are often changed over decades if not centuries.

Infalability itself is a good example, originally this concept of Infalibility was considered to cover all areas of a Christians life.

However has been more conservatively used and interpreted in modern times to refer to the Pope's infalibility with respect to Religious and Church matters rather than all matters of the faithful.

From a more controversial perspective, there have actually been "Anti-Popes" declared at various times in the history of the Church, where indivduals would declare themselves Pope without "necessarily" having gotten the blessing of their predecessor or peers. (See the Straight Dope site) while lurid and colorful it's missing the point about the papacy.

Originally the Pontiff / Pope acted as the head of state from both a military as well as a religious perspective, however, much later after wars and bloodshed of the 1100-1500's or so when Christian European area was in nearly constant crusades, and especially wars between the various Christian denominations, Protestantism etc. A perfect example was Pope Urban II?, who declared basically the first "Crusade" against "Moors" with the intent of retaking Jerusalem for Chirstiandom, many such crusades were declared and most of which had "mixed" military results and ultimately (obviously) failed although they did not completely end, for almost 500 years.

The repeated decimation of the populations of Europe through war and finally the Black Death of the 1650's meant that the church would itself be practically unable and then decide to not wield the kind of nearly federal "Temporal" power as it had in the earlier unified Christian Europe.

This was as much to do with loss of life as conflicts of interest, from the perspective of getting the "blessing of the Pontiff". Since this could and did represent repeatedly a serious conflict of interests the institution of the Papacy started to rethink the idea of religiously sanctioned warfare.

This culminated in the 1850's if I remember correctly where the Pope had direct conflicts of interest and since about the 1850's the Church has only very occasionally worked in the areas of warfare.

Typically the church has worked hard to redefine the role as one of primarily humanitarian, enlightenment, and spiritual needs of the faithful rather than those of religously sanctioned warfare.

Answer 4

What power does he have? He's not by any means divine, and is most definitely a man. He is elected by the cardinals as the head of the church for life, but most decisions are made by a council of cardinals and bishops as well as the pope. I don't think there's any sort of Papal veto like there is a presidential one, but he no doubt has serious influence over the cardinals

Answer 5

According to many, he holds the key to heaven or hell and many other stages in between . Yes ,he's just a man that many have placed higher than themselves , because they feel that they must . It is a very old and well crafted plan of thought and regulation . Cult of personality fits this shoe . Think people.

Answer 6

Every group has to have a leader. One that makes sure things are done right and to make sure things are in order.

The pope is the 'leader' of the catholic church. He is NOT god but they feel he is close to god in a lot of ways.

Answer 7

The pope has no power. He is however the Anti Christ. The people do follow him like he is God. He will get his power from the beast.

Answer 8

Yes, he is just a man. He is the man to whom Almighty God in the person of Jesus Christ personally appointed as visible head of His Church, telling the apostle Simon, "you are Rock, and upon this Rock I will build my Church"; "whatsoever you bind upon earth is bound in heaven"; "I give unto you the keys to my kingdom". The keys are the universal symbol of supreme authority. The apostles all understood this symbolism, taken from their own culture. The master of the household would have a number of stewards and servants, but the chief steward held authority over all of them. His position was indicated by the keys to the household, which he wore on his shoulder. In the absence of the master, the chief steward had complete authority over the running of the household, not by his own authority, but by the authority of the Master Himself, which was delegated to the chief steward during the master's absence. This symbolism makes it completely clear what Jesus was saying to Simon.
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Answer 9

He is in charge of a very powerful organisation. While I am not catholic and don't have any interest in him or his position, I think that the people who refer to him as the antichrist are fools who have let their dogma overrule their intelligence

Answer 10

Its sad to say, but its out of fear. People are afraid to face God on their own so they want someone else to do it for them. Even if its a man from a religious order that refutes the Word of God.><>