Inter-Faith Series: Why do Catholics have a Pope?

Answer 1

Because Jesus Christ gave us one.

John 21:15-17 states:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Matthew 16:17-19 states:

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The Catholic Church believes the Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.

The Pope is the senior pastor of 1.1 billion Catholics, the direct successor of Simon Peter.

The Pope’s main roles include teaching, sanctifying, and governing.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 880-882: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p4.htm#880

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Because God gave us Peter as leader of the Church. And the Popes are direct succesion from Peter as Peter is the first Pope.

Related Gospel writtings include

+Matthew 16:17-19 Here give Simon Peter the mission after he proclaims Jesus as the Messiah. The text says rock, in the original Cephas in aramean, the exact traduction is Peter. So Peter exactly means rock.

+John 21:15-17, that is when after the three negations of the passion by Peter, Christ forgives their sins, but also give him the mission of be the leader of the Church

The Pope is elected in the council of cardinals in extreme secret.

Any Pope is infalible ex-catedra, that means in matter of faith and doctrine he never get an error, as inspired directly by the Holy Spirit, but He is still a man, so a sinner. Even if that infability is proclaimed at 1880 as true, it applies to every true Pope, even to Peter as Pope.

In Christ and Mary

Answer 3

The word Pope means papa or father. The title implies that the Pope is the "father" of the Catholic Church.

Catholics believe the successor of Peter, the pope, has a special role in the church. As the bishop of Rome---the place where Peter ministered and was martyred--the pope has primacy over the whole church. Catholics base this belief on Christ's own teaching:

"Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this unto you but my father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 16:17-19).

The pope and the bishops form a single entity called the college of bishops. The bishops in communion with one another and with the pope have the task of teaching truthfully the word of God. They do this when they come together in an ecumenical (worldwide) council. The pope's special role is to be a sign of unity when the bishops speak as one. He is the head. He speaks with the bishops as the voice of Jesus Christ alive in the church.

Answer 4

Catholics have a Pope because of the Apostle Peter being chosen by Jesus as his successor and the one to carry on the church in his name. Since then each Pope has laid claim that they are the one who is the direct successor of Peter. Until the middle ages the Pope was chosen by a meeting of all the bishops and they chose, during the middle ages Pope Nicholas made the College of Cardinals to elect the new Pope. The Pope since Peters time was called the first among equals, he was considered to be just as equal to all the other bishops but because of his succession to Peter he was the first among them, the head of the group but not more powerful, until later on in history. Since that time more and more power has been given to the pope until the last century or so. In that time the Pope was forced to give his landholding in Italy to the newly formed Italian government. In the 1880s the pope was given the power of Infalliblity concerning matters of faith and morals, before then the pope had to call an Ecumenical council and put it to a vote in order to determine articles of faith and morals.

Answer 5

Christ spoke Aramaic and nicknamed Simon "Kepha," ("Cephas") which means "Rock." Most of the New Testament was written in Greek (or translated into Greek, as is possible in the case of Matthew's Book), and Kepha was translated as "Petros" or "Petra" (depending on stylistic needs of the context), which both mean "Rock." In our English Bibles, "Petros" and "Petra" get translated into "Peter." 1 Peter IS "the Rock," the earthly head of Christ's Church as Christ Himself states in Matthew 16.

The reality, though, is there, in Peter, from the very beginning. The ecclesiastical offices of Bishops (episkopos), elders (presbyteros, from which is derived the word "priest"), and deacons (diakonos) were already in place in the New Testament (Acts 20:28, Philippians 1:1, Acts 1:20, 20:28, Philippians 1:1, 1 Timothy 3:1-2, Titus 1:7, 1 Peter 2:25, Acts 15:2-6, 21:18, Hebrews 11:2, 1 Peter 5:1, 1 Timothy 5:17). The Pope, as Bishop of Rome, is simply the successor of Peter, who was the first Bishop of Rome and head of the earthly Church.

It is much easier to understand Peter's role of leadership by reading Acts. He is clearly the leader of the Church. One such example, there are others, is Acts 15:6 where Peter addressing the other Apostles clearly states his leadership role: "My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the message of the gospel and believe".



Around or about 45 AD, Peter went to Rome and from there lead the Catholic Church. As of today, there have been 263 Popes in direct succession to Peter. The position of Pope was established by Christ and the office has been maintained in an apostolic manner since the time of Christ.

Answer 6

Simply put: Jesus himself appointed the office (Peter) and Peter has has successors since Peter was martyred. On a practical level, it binds the unity of the Church in terms of faith and morals and in general liturgical terms (i.e. order of mass, rites, etc.). The differences lie in the cultural and spirituality aspects that vary from region to region and country to country. Having a successor to Peter keeps the church unified in terms of teachings. Churches that don't have this single focal point or who don't recognize this as a unifying source, can be as numerous as there are pastors. Where is the unifying source for these churches and who/what makes the final call in terms of faith and morals?

Having been to masses in Mexico, China, and Korea, it is nice to know that 90% of it is familiar to me and the readings and feast days are the same all over the world, each day, no matter where I go.

Answer 7

The word ``Pope'' doesn't appear in the Bible--but then neither do the words ``Trinity,'' ``Incarnation,'' ``Ascension'' and ``Bible'' appear in the Bible. However, they are referred to by other names. The Bible, for example, is referred to as ``Scripture.'' The Pope, which means head bishop of the Church, is referred to as the ``rock'' of the Church, or as the ``shepherd'' of the Church. Christ used that terminology when He appointed the Apostle Peter the first head bishop of His Church, saying: ``Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona . . . Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.'' (Matt. 16:17-19). ``There shall be one fold and one shepherd.'' (John 10:16). ``Feed my lambs... feed my sheep.'' (John 21:15-17). The words ``rock'' and ``shepherd'' must apply to Peter, and they must distinguish him as the head Apostle, otherwise Christ's statements are so ambiguous as to be meaningless. Certainly the other Apostles understood that Peter had authority from Christ to lead the Church, for they gave him the presiding place every time they assembled in council (Acts 1:15, 5:1-10), and they placed his name first every time they listed the names of the Apostles. (Matt. 10:2, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:13-14, Acts 1:13).
In addition, there is the testimony of the Church Fathers. In the second century St. Hegessipus compiled a list of Popes to the time of Anicetus (eleventh Pope) which contained the name of St. Peter as first. Early in the third century the historian Caius wrote that Pope Victor was ``the thirteenth Bishop of Rome from Peter.'' In the middle of the third century St. Cyprian related that Cornelius (twenty-first Pope) ``mounted the lofty summit of the priesthood . . . the place of Peter.'' Even Protestant historians have attested to Peter's role as first Bishop of Rome, first Pope of the Catholic Church. Wrote the eminent Protestant historian Cave in his Historia Literaria: ``That Peter was at Rome, and held the See there for some time, we fearlessly affirm with the whole multitude of the ancients.'' Hence the source of the Pope's authority to rule over the Catholic Church is quite obvious: It was given him by none other than Jesus Christ--by God Himself.

Answer 8

Because Jesus trained Peter to lead the Apostles after He ascended. Even Paul followed his lead for the most part. That leadership position was then passed down along a line of succession based on Peter's position as the leader of the Church in Rome. This is allowable because Jesus gave authority to Peter, in the form of the 'Keys to the Kingdom'.

Answer 9

According to Catholicism the Pope is the “Vicar of Christ” (a vicar is a substitute), and takes the place of Jesus as the visible head of the Church. As such he has the ability to speak “ex cathedra” (with authority on matters of faith and practice), and when he does so his teachings are considered infallible and binding upon all Christians.

Answer 10

i think jesus establishing peter as the first pope would be why.
from scripture we can see it clearly and in many places. this site should help our seperated brothers and sisters in christ see where and why we have a pope. even if they don't agree i feel they could atleast see from scripture itself the basis for the pope and papal authority
www.scripturecatholic.com
god bless