Article Outline
Papacy, office of the pope, the supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church. The word is derived from the medieval Latin papa (“pope,” or “father”), a term originally applied to bishops in general. Roman Catholics believe that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, to whom Christ entrusted the leadership of the church as recorded in Matthew 16:18-19: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church....”
The pope has many official titles: bishop of Rome, vicar of Christ, successor to the prince of the apostles, supreme pontiff of the universal church, patriarch of the West, primate of Italy, archbishop and metropolitan of the Roman province, sovereign of the state of Vatican City, servant of the servants of God. The title bishop of Rome is the basis for the others: an individual is pope because he is bishop of Rome (and thus the successor of Peter), not vice versa.
As wielders of the highest power in the church, popes issue authoritative doctrinal statements, convoke councils, adjudicate legal questions, establish dioceses, appoint bishops, and perform a host of other functions. Never in history have these powers been exercised more fully or broadly than at present.
The pope is assisted by an elaborate bureaucracy known as the Curia. After many reorganizations, the Curia still retains the same tripartite structure it was given in the 16th century: (1) congregations (administrative committees), each charged with a specific area of government; (2) tribunals, to handle legal matters; (3) offices, councils, and secretariats, of which the most important now is the secretariat of state, which functions as the chief organ of government to which the others generally report.
The pope is elected by the College of Cardinals within several weeks after his predecessor’s death. The cardinals are sequestered into a conclave under an oath to keep the voting a secret. This system, many times modified, has been in use since the 11th century, when it definitively replaced the rather haphazard systems that preceded it. Although in theory any baptized male can be elected pope, the cardinals have not gone outside their own number since the 16th century. Until then it was not uncommon to elect as pope individuals who had not yet received priestly ordination.
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