“(Ecclesiastical Latin papa from Greek papas, a variant of pappas father, in classical Latin pappas — Juvenal, “Satires” 6:633).
The title pope, once used with far greater latitude (see below, section V), is at present employed solely to denote the Bishop of Rome, who, in virtue of his position as successor of St. Peter, is the chief pastor of the whole Church, the Vicar of Christ upon earth.
Besides the bishopric of the Roman Diocese, certain other dignities are held by the pope as well as the supreme and universal pastorate: he is Archbishop of the Roman Province, Primate of Italy and the adjacent islands, and sole Patriarch of the Western Church. The Church’s doctrine as to the pope was authoritatively declared in the Vatican Council in the Constitution “Pastor Aeternus”. The four chapters of that Constitution deal respectively with the
-office of Supreme Head conferred on St. Peter,-
the perpetuity of this office in the person of the Roman pontiff, the pope’s jurisdiction over the faithful, and his supreme authority to define in all questions of faith and morals. This last point has been sufficiently discussed in the article INFALLIBILITY, and will be only incidentally touched on here. “
From the Catholic encyclopedia, which I found at newadvent.org.
If you indeed reject the notion that the pope is the supreme head of the church, I am glad to hear it. But it is official Roman Catholic doctrine, easily found with any search of the term.
Negatory. The lead bishop of the Copts, and the lead bishop of the Greek Orthodox in Alexandria are both titled Pope.
If you indeed reject the notion that the pope is the supreme head of the church, I am glad to hear it. But it is official Roman Catholic doctrine, easily found with any search of the term.
Pull it out of the Catechism and let's discuss official doctrine. New Advent is good, and more accurate than, say, Wikipedia, but it is not official doctrine.