By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 43
If there ever was something that distinguishes Roman Catholicism from all other religions on this planet, it is the Pope of Rome. Loved by many, hated by many, ignored by many, the Pope of Rome has held an essential position in the Church founded by Jesus Christ for nearly two thousand years. No other institution has had such a longevity in history, in spite of all upheavals it went through.
The teaching about the Pope that we have received from the apostles is:
Christ appointed an apostle as the visible Head of the Church;
St. Peter received a primacy, not only of honor, but of jurisdiction; that is, he received from Christ the authority to teach and govern the whole Church;
He has a perpetual line of Successors in the primacy by virtue of the same divine institution;
His Successors are the Roman Pontiffs.
From St. Paul’s epistles we learn that the Church of Christ is His Mystical Body, of which He is the Head. St. Peter — and his Successors after him, whom we call “Popes” — are called the visible head of the Church, and all the papal power is derived from Christ Himself. And Christ promised to be in His Church forever.
Non-Catholics commit a grave error when they say that some Popes have created new doctrines. No, never, ever. The Pope has no authority whatsoever to create new doctrines. All of his definitions are simply greater explanations of doctrines already defined or implicitly stated in divine Revelation. Such doctrines have either been always believed by the faithful, or are contained in Scripture or the Apostolic Tradition, or both.
Let us take a deeper look into this issue.
St. Peter’s parents had called him Cephas, and not “rock” (Kepha, in Aramaic). Such a name was completely unknown among the Jews. And yet, Jesus decided to change his name right at the first time they met. We read in the Gospel that Jesus said to him (John 1:42), “So you are Cephas, son of John? You shall be called Kepha.”
That was a complete novelty, to call a disciple after a rock! Certainly, our friend Cephas did not know why his name was to be changed, as Cephas seemed just right for him. What he did not know at the time was that Jesus was defining his future mission, to be the rock upon which He would build His Church.
St. Matthew’s Gospel records a very interesting conversation between Jesus and Cephas. In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked the apostles, “Who do men say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15-19).
Cephas replied immediately, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus acknowledged that Cephas was not saying that as a matter of opinion, but as the result of a revelation from His Eternal Father. That is, God the Father spoke through Cephas, just as He spoke through John the Baptist and the prophets in days of old.
Jesus naturally accepted His Father’s choice of Cephas as a prophet for the New Testament, and called him “blessed.” And signified that blessedness by giving Cephas the supreme authority in His Church: the keys of the Kingdom (Isaiah 22)!
“And I tell you, you are Kepha (Rock, Peter) and upon this Kepha (Rock, Peter), I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Wow! That’s real power, authority, teaching, governance, the whole works!
Jesus had previously compared His Church to a house built upon a rock, and not sand (Matt. 7:25: “the house did not fall because it had been built upon a rock”), that is, one single rock, one visible pastor, not a myriad of individual grains of sand, of puny pastors popping up like popcorn playing pope!
And since Christ can neither deceive not be deceived, His Church remains the same throughout the ages, faithful to the Truth, because His guardianship protects her against all error and assaults from the gates of Hell.
What we call today the Pope’s “primacy” (from the Latin primo, the first) is directly stated in the words: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” i.e., the keys of the Church. The keys were regarded by the Jews as a symbol of ownership or supreme authority, just as they are regarded by us. He who holds the keys of a city holds authority over that city. St. Peter, therefore, was the one to hold authority over the Church.
Moreover, Jesus was very specific in defining the authority He gave to Peter. He was to receive the powers of “binding” and “loosing,” that is, he shall have power to issue decrees; to make laws or annul them; to judge, condemn, or acquit; to grant or withhold absolution from sin. The same powers of binding and loosing were, indeed, promised to all the apostles in Matt. 18:18.
Should we understand that all the apostles had equal authority, and Peter was only the primo inter pares, or the first among equals, as some dissenters have maintained? No, not at all. Jesus gave to Peter the Keys of the Kingdom, and to Peter alone, not to all apostles.
Besides, because they were first promised to St. Peter, the rock and the holder of the keys, it is clear that his fellow apostles were to exercise them subordinately to his authority. We make a like comment on the words of St. Paul that the Church is built “upon the foundation of the apostles” (Eph. 2:20). It is built on them as forming a united body under the primacy of St. Peter.
Since apostolic times until the Greek schism, that is, for over one thousand years, there was one Lord, one faith, one Baptism (Eph. 4:5) in One Church of God, the pillar and mainstay of the Truth (1 Tim. 3:15)!
mIt is important to point out here that Christ promised the primacy to St. Peter on hearing him make a profession of faith in His divinity. Christ had spoken of Himself as the Good Shepherd; the “lambs and the sheep” being the apostles and all others who believed in Him. He fulfills the promise on hearing him make a triple protestation of love for Him. “Feed my lambs,” He said to Peter. “Tend My sheep” (John 21:15-17).
St. Peter was thus made shepherd of the whole flock of Christ, the Good Shepherd in His stead. All, including the apostles, are to listen to his teaching and obey his commands. This primacy, like the Church herself, must last until the end of time, and must, therefore, be passed on to Successors of Peter.
Next article: Did the eleven apostles accept the primacy of St. Peter over them?
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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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