what is the point of the pope?

Question

what started the idea of the pope? is it in the bible? and what does he actually do?

Answer 1

What is the point of the pope?

Nothing because this “Vicar of Christ” is not a priest, high priest, bishop or any pope. The only Biblical “Vicar of Christ” is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is our Counselor, Teacher (John 14:26) and guide into all truth (John 16:13).

The Bible says of Jesus that there is no other name by which men can be saved Acts 4:12. (No purpose for the Pope)

There is only one mediator between God and men, and that is Jesus Christ 1 Timothy 2:5. (No purpose for the Pope)

As you can see that there is no Biblical foundation for claiming to be a representative of Christ on earth.

No man could do what Christ has done or what Christ is now doing on behalf of humankind. Jesus Christ is the one who says He will build His church, He never delegates this power.

Does the doctrine of Apostolic Succession is the belief that the 12 apostles passed on their authority to successors?

Fact, Nowhere in Scripture did Jesus, the apostles or any other New Testament writer set forth the idea of “Apostolic Succession.” This Apostolic Succession Dogma is what men and demons have made up.

Answer 2

The pope is the God-ordained leader of the world-wide universal Christian Church, known today as the Roman Catholic Church.

He is also a bishop and a priest.

The leadership position of the the pope began when Jesus founded the church and installed Simon as "Peter, the Rock".

The Church has always had a pope, even though the position wasn't always called by the same name.

Those who dispute the divine authority of the Catholic Church do everything they can to disrespect both the church and the pope, including misinterpreting scripture in a desperate effort to prove their erroneous points of view.

The fact remains that the current Pope Benedict XVI is the true earthly leader of the whole church, he is the authentic successor of the apostle Peter, and he wields awesome and virtually unlimited power and authority, both on earth and in heaven, answering only to God.

All of this was routinely understood by the whole world for some 1500 years, until the rise of the protestant "reformers" in the 15th century, who evidently failed to get the memo!

Answer 3

The office of pope was instituted by Christ. The pope feeds and tends Christ’s sheep. See Matthew 16:17-19 and John 21:15-17.

Answer 4

The idea of the pope is to guide God's people. It comes from the bible story in which Jesus ask Peter to feed his sheep or guide the Church. It is then believe that from Peter the job has been passed down to individuals all the way to this day.

The pope's main job is to lead the Catholic Church. To become a pope, you have to work your way up from a faithful Catholic to semenarian, priest, bishop, and cardinal to be selected Pope. So by that time, the pope is very educated in Theology and thus is quite quailified to guide the Church.
He main job usually deals with stating the official stance of Catholicism on theological topics. From day to day most of his time is spent in or around prayer.

That's about it. Some one will probably come around later with a better explaination.

Answer 5

Immediately after the disappearance of Christ,as It was customary that prophets had a successor to provide leadership, Saint Paul assumed the role of dispersed and terrified Christians.The mystery shrouds around the events leading to installation of Saint Paul as the successor.It is very interesting that the Jew leadership could not tolerate the Christ but how did they settle down with Saint Paul?Saint Paul in fact made compromise with Romans and introduce, the idea of immortality of Christ by saying that he has ascended to the heavens bodily and he was son of God.In fact it was a major departure from true message of Christ.Biblical scriptures mention meeting of the Christ with his disciples after his deliverance from the cross but no mention is available about his meeting Saint Paul.In fact Saint Paul worked to dilute the impact of teachings of Christ,which resulted in absorption of superstitious Romans into Christianity as propounded by Saint Paul;as such the subsequent Popes assumed role of King makers and established their political hegemony due to credulous leanings of Romans and other European nations, till the nineteenth century when their political hegemony was defied by all nations.In Egypt, the Christan's are lead by another Pope, who has been having generally the role of a religious exponent.Nowadays, they are just saying good things and have restricted their role but in the medieval ages;they were de-facto rulers and made the lives of kings miserable with their intrigues.

Answer 6

The pope leads Catholics, not to be confused with Christians.

He is sort of the "High Priest" and believes he his the successor to Paul.

An example of this, do you recall in the Old testament when there was such a system, where only one man could go into the Holy of Holies and directly speak to God....That's sort of what the Pope is....or so Catholics think.

But that's the system that Jesus came to destroy. When the Curtain was Ripped apart, there was no longer a need for a Hight Priest to intervene to God for us....

We each have the right to speak to God ourselves through Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

Peter started the idea of the Pope. He was ordained by Christ as the leader of the Church. The purpose of the Pope is to continue to guide the church in the modern days.

Answer 8

To deceive the masses.

The first pope is Simon the Sorcerer who tried to acquire the Holy Spirit from the apostles by offering to buy it!

He already had a following and later moved to Rome and claimed Simon-Peter's position as the 'chief apostle'.

How can anyone look at the history of the pope and not get the shivers!

Answer 9

The Pope is the successor of Peter and the sign of unity that Christ gave to His Church to show that His Church is one visably united Church. Without a Pope there is no way to settle disputes of faith and morals among Christians.

That's why there are over 33,000 Protestant denominations because without Papal authority given by Jesus, people can only either divide or water down the faith if they disagree on anything.
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Answer 10

To act like a God on earth and deceive the masses. So people can warship him like a god. No its not in the Bible other than the fact what it talks about in bible about false phophets.

"And he shall think to change the times and the law." Daniel 7:25, RSV.* "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:6, 9. "Her priests have violated my law." "And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, ... saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken." Ezekiel 22:26, 28.