The reason for the Papacy

The reason for the Papacy

Every organization has a head. No organization can properly perform its duties without structure in place. The Catholic Church has a structure, its hierarchy. This was created by Our Lord when he chose 12 apostles. Later in His ministry He asked the apostles who they thought he was. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus expounded upon this thought when He asked the disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Their answers varied. They said that some said that He was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Jesus then asked them directly, “But whom say ye that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded to Peter by saying, ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’” (Matthew 16:17-19)

It is important to understand that Jesus told Peter it was His heavenly Father that revealed this truth. Also, he tells the apostles that what they bind on Earth will be bound in heaven. If Jesus had never made this claim from chapter 16, not much would change for Protestantism. However, we’ve known for 2,000 what Jesus did here. Later on, Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved him. After Peter responded ‘yes’ for the third time, Jesus again told Peter to ‘feed my sheep’.

It is frustrating that there are hundreds of denominations all claiming to be The One. Without a head, how can you be certain that what you believe is true?

When Judas hung himself, the apostles quickly replaced him by the laying on of hands. This has been ongoing ever since.

After the exchange from Matthews’ gospel, listed above, Peter is mentioned first almost every time throughout scripture. When Peter died, he was replaced by Linus. It is strongly believed that this is the same Linus mentioned in the New Testament. It was the 16th century reformers who did away with any kind of a hierarchy and head. However, Martin Luther and John Calvin made themselves their followers’ leader; essentially becoming ‘pope’ for their followers.

Now, there have been bad men who occupied the chair of Peter. However, not one of them ever made a heretical pronouncement. Some have come close. But Our Lord promised that this would never happen. In 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX made it a dogma of the Church that the pope is infallible in regards to any teaching dealing with faith and morals. This has nothing to do with his opinions on sports, science, the stock market etc. When he is in union with the bishops of the Church, he cannot add any heretical teaching to the Deposit of Faith. Now, this is NOT the first time the Church taught this. It has always been known that the papacy was the safeguard against error. The ecumenical councils are proof of this. They have usually been called to tackle heretical teachings.

As soon as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others broke away from the Catholic Church, it did not take long for each of these reformers to start losing their faithful, starting their own denominations. To this day, new denominations continue to come into being. The papacy is a safeguard against Satan. The papacy is the longest running monarchy on Earth today. There have been hiccups, like when the papacy moved to Avignon, France, in the 14th century. There have been anti-popes (more than one claimant to the throne at any given time). However, through these difficult times, the Church has prevailed. In the early Church when there were disagreements, the bishop or Rome was the final say. The agreements were oftentimes between the Eastern Church and the Western Church. St Peter and St Paul ended up in Rome. This is why the papacy is there to this day. These disagreements came to a head in 1054 when the Eastern Church formally broke away from Rome. The difference between the two is minor. They do not recognize the primacy of the pope. The other issue is how the Holy Spirit in viewed. We continue to pray for union. Jesus said He prayed that all of his followers would someday be one.

God Bless.

Steven L Salter Sr