The Pope and Apostolic Authority

Introduction

            In any organization, whether Divine or human in origin, there is the need for an authoritative individual or group of individuals to make decisions to ensure the organization runs smoothly and stays on task for its mission. In business this usually is the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors. In non-Catholic Christian communities this is usually the pastor and the elders. In the Catholic Church, it is the Pope and the Bishops. As we look at the Church's hierarchical and authoritative structure it is necessary to define some terms before we engage in a discussion on how those structures came about. Papal Authority refers to the level of authority given solely to the pope. "By virtue of his office, the Supreme Pontiff possesses infallibility in teaching when as the supreme pastor and teacher of all the Christian faithful, who strengthens his brothers and sisters in the faith, he proclaims by definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held." (Can. 749 §1) Apostolic Authority refers to the authority Jesus gave all the Apostles, whose successors are the bishops, to preach, teach, and govern His Church. Apostolic Succession is the way Apostolic Authority has been passed down from the Apostles to their successors, the bishops, to today. Apostolic Tradition is the teachings of Jesus Christ handed down through time. Magisterium is the teaching office of the Church. This office is exercised in several ways: The Ordinary Magisterium, which is permanent and ongoing and refers to authoritative Church teaching which has been consistently taught and handed down through history and universally taught as infallible by the bishops in union with the pope. It is not a definitive act that makes this teaching infallible. Extraordinary Magisterium, which is exercised in the calling of special councils of the Church. It is all the bishops in the world in union with the pope coming together to pray and discuss the problems (such as refuting heretical teaching) the Church faces or needs to define and the Papal Extraordinary Magisterium where the pope exercises his supreme authority and his charism of infallibility to definitively define a dogma or doctrine of the Church by a definitive act (ex Cathedra). These papal pronouncements can come in a variety of forms, such as encyclicals or apostolic exhortations, although not all of these types of documents are intended to be infallible pronouncements. It is important to note that priests and deacons have an obligation to teach only what the Church teaches, but do not possess any magisterial authority and that theologians have no authority to pronounce Church teaching on any level.

The Hierarchy

            There are important differences in how the Church operates in comparison to any other organization. The first important difference is that Jesus, who is God, founded the Catholic Church. We see in the book of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible. [Jesus is speaking] "And I tell you, you are Peter (which means Rock), and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 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." (Matt.16:18-19) The Church's hierarchical structure comes out of the Jewish hierarchical structures found in the Old Testament. Following the Davidic [King David] Jewish tradition (Jesus and all the Apostles were Jewish) in the Jewish kingdom, the king had a second-in-command (or first officer for Star Trek fans). His job is to carry out the king's orders and in the absence of the king he is in charge of the kingdom. We see this in the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) in Isaiah 22:21-22. [The Jewish King Hezekiah is speaking] "In that day I will call my servant Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, and I…will commit your authority (authority of the second-in-command) to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." There are several connections to be made here. One of the connections is between Eliakim [the second in command] being a "father" to the Jewish people and the word "Pope" which means father; Jesus made Peter the first Pope. Other connections are the issue of authority and the keys, which are the symbol of the supreme authority. David was the King of the Jews appointed by God in the Old Testament and Jesus, being descended from David, is King of the Jews. In addition, since Jesus is the Son of God He is also the King of heaven and earth. As King, God the Father gave Jesus "all authority on heaven and earth" (Matt. 28:18) and it is clear that Jesus passed His authority to Peter. This is Papal Authority, which is reserved for the Pope alone. This means that Jesus, through the action of the Holy Spirit, guarantees that the Pope, while exercising his teaching office, cannot err on issues of faith and morals and that he can make definitive pronouncements that are binding on the whole Church. He is the supreme authority on earth and he is in charge of all aspects of the Church.

The Succession

            There is a difference between the Jewish tradition and Apostolic Tradition in the area of the second-in-command. In the Jewish tradition, when the king dies, the new king has the right to appoint his own second-in-charge, so the old second-in-command ceases to have the authority of the king who has died. However, since Jesus is still alive and reigns for all time as King of heaven and earth as well as His Church, it instead becomes necessary to appoint a new second-in-command or Pope when the pope dies. The new second-in-command, or pope, is appointed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who is also God, through the action of the apostles and their successors. This appointing of a successor to an Apostle is demonstrated in Scripture in Acts 1:24-26 "And they prayed and said, 'Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place.' And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthi'as; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles." This replacing of Judas was initiated by Peter exercising his Papal Authority, given to him by Jesus as the first Pope, when he quotes the Old Testament Psalms `His office let another take.'" The term "office" is a Greek term for bishopric or office of the bishop. Today, 2000 years later the normal way the successor of Peter is chosen is from among the College of Cardinals who pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal His choice to them and then they cast their votes accordingly.
            Jesus also passed on some of His authority to the other Apostles which we see in Matthew 18:18 "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" So, Peter and the Apostles have received Jesus' authority to build His Church on earth. This is called Apostolic Authority. The way that Apostolic Authority is passed down through time to today is through Apostolic Succession. The bishops of the Catholic Church are considered the direct descendants of the Apostles and each bishop exercises supreme authority in the diocese to which he is assigned and those in his diocese have an obligation to follow their bishop's authentic magisterial teaching. However, the bishop does not have the authority to define dogma or doctrine on his own.
            Scripture shows us another way that Apostolic Authority is passed on. Paul, whom Scripture tells us became an Apostle, traveled throughout the Mediterranean world spreading the Gospel to Jews and non-Jews alike. On these journeys, Paul would find faithful men to accompany him, and one of these men was Timothy. Timothy travelled with Paul and was sent by Paul on his own missionary ventures as well. Church history tells us that Paul made Timothy the Bishop of Ephesus and in his second letter to Timothy, Paul encourages Timothy to find faithful men to teach and pass on the authority he received from Paul and the Apostles in 2 Timothy 2:2: “and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” This demonstrates the first four generations of Apostolic Succession: Paul, then Timothy, then the men Timothy ordains, and then the men they ordain.

The Reception


            The process in which the Pope and bishops have been chosen has changed over the centuries as the Church has grown, but the way in which they have received their authority from the Holy Spirit and those who have appointed them has always had one key element to it. The passing on of Apostolic Authority has been through the laying on of hands. This passing on of authority in this manner comes from the Jewish Tradition and is carried into the Catholic Church by the first Christians, all of whom are Jews. This is demonstrated in the Old Testament with the passing on of authority from Moses to Joshua. Moses said to the LORD, "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep which have no shepherd." And the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; cause him to stand before Elea'zar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey." This is in the New Testament in Acts 6:5-6 "And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch'orus, and Nica'nor, and Ti'mon, and Par'menas, and Nicola'us, a proselyte of Antioch.
These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them." Paul also refers to Timothy receiving this imposition of hands in 1 Timothy 4:14. So, Apostolic Authority, from the Apostles down through history to the bishops of today have received their authority through laying on of hands.

The Application

            In addition to having received authority to make decisions on how to run the Church, the Holy Spirit also guides the successors of the apostles and gives them the authority to make definitive pronouncements on behalf of God on the issues of faith and morals. This key element of Apostolic Authority and Succession has to do with what is passed down: The teachings of Jesus, which were given daily to the Apostles over a three year period and Jesus' promise to send the Holy Spirit who would ensure they remembered all that Jesus taught. "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:25-26) The teachings that Jesus handed onto the Apostles are called the Apostolic Tradition or the deposit of faith and some of these teachings were written down and eventually became the Bible. So, the Church has two sources of Apostolic Tradition: The Apostolic Oral Tradition and Scripture, which was written down during the first century during the lifetime of the Apostles. It took the Church over 300 years to discern which writings were to become a part of Scripture. This list of Holy Spirit inspired books in the Bible is called the Canon of Scripture, and for the New Testament there were over 100 writings from various sources that were considered. Twenty-seven of those books became a part of the Word of God. The Old Testament canon was much less of an issue because it was already in use for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus by the Jewish faith as well as the early Christians. The Old Testament has forty-six books. This is a demonstration of how the local councils under the guidance of the local bishops of Hippo in 393, and Carthage in 397 and 417 A.D came together to decide issues for their diocese. Each of these local councils wished to define the canon of Scripture for their diocese and sent their finding to Rome for papal approval, which he gave. The Catholic Church universally accepted this as an authoritative list of books as Scripture under the ordinary magisterium, bit it wasn't until the extraordinary magisterium exercising its infallible authority through the ecumenical (or universal) Council of Trent (1545-1563) that the issue of the canon of Scripture was further addressed in a definitive way for the entire Church. This was because the canon, which was already considered infallible, was challenged for the first time, thus, for the sake of clarity the Church chose to define it as formally revealed by God by a definitive act.
            Here we see one way that Apostolic Authority is exercised throughout history, where the bishops, in union with the pope, come together to pray about, discuss, and debate the issues facing the Church. These are called Ecumenical Councils and there have been twenty-one in the 2000 years history of the Church. When an Ecumenical Council is called the bishops of the world in union with the pope exercise their Apostolic Authority. At the end of the council there is usually a statement issued to all the Church defining and clarifying what the Church believes or other statements about the Church herself. These statements are authoritative and binding on the whole Church. Examples of these councils are the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), which was called to respond to the Arian heresy and the Third Lateran Council (1179 AD) which is where we get the modern day process whereby we elect a Pope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) in paragraph 88 states: "The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these."

Clarifying the Confusion on the Levels of Church Teaching

            What are the different levels of Church teaching? This is an important question to have answered and be clear in your mind. Cardinal Ratzinger's commentary on the changes to the Code of Canon Law (can. 750-752) made by Blessed John Paul II help us to gain an understanding of different levels of Church teaching. The three levels of Church teaching are: Dogma, Doctrine and Church Teaching.
Dogma - is a doctrine that has been set forth by the Magisterium either extraordinary or ordinary as being divinely and formally revealed. It is to be accepted with firm faith. "With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in tradition, which the Church, either by solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed" Examples of this are the Dogma of the Eucharist, the institution of the all the Sacraments by Christ, and the doctrine on the primacy and infallibility of the Roman pontiff. Those who deny these teachings are referred to as heretics and are no longer in communion with the Catholic Church.
Doctrine - The Church guided by the Holy Spirit declares a teaching to be held definitively: "I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals". The object taught by this formula includes all those teachings belonging to the dogmatic or moral area which are necessary for faithfully keeping and expounding on the deposit of faith, even if they have not been proposed by the Magisterium of the Church as formally revealed. Examples of this level of teaching are euthanasia and fornication. Those who deny this level of teaching are considered dissenters and can have a just penalty levied against them.
Church Teaching - Church teaching that has not yet been formally defined, but still require us to accept them as true or at least sure. "Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciates when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act". An example of this teaching is the Theology of the Body, where Blessed John Paul II delved into the Church teaching on human sexuality and anthropology.
            With regard to Dogma and Doctrine it is important to emphasize that there is no difference with respect to the full and irrevocable character of the assent which is owed to these teachings. This means we are not free to deny these truths of the Church as they are considered infallible.

When the Pope Exercises His Infallible Authority

            How can we know if a pope is using papal extraordinary magisterium? One way we can know if a pope is speaking ex cathedra is by the specific language used in a document. This language can be seen in Blessed John Paul II's pronouncement on the ordination of women. (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis)

"Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."

            In this statement, it is clear he wishes to speak infallibly as pope. This is a statement of Doctrine or the second level of teaching. The word that tips us off to the pope's intention is "definitively or firmly held". If he had written "firmly believed with a divine faith" instead it would have raised this to the level of dogmatic teaching. The wording is not always exactly these, but substantially similar.
            So, Jesus founded His Church of the rock of Peter as the first pope and the Apostles and imbued them with the authority to set up and run His Church. The Apostles passed their authority down to the men chosen to be their successors. Over the centuries, as questions about the nature of Christ or the nature of the Church, or the everyday business of running the different local Churches throughout the world the successors of Peter and the Apostles exercised their authority, led by the Holy Spirit down to the present day.

Chip Awalt has a Masters Degree in Theological Studies from Ave Maria University's Institute for Pastoral Theology and has been evangelizing the Catholic faith since 1999