Did God ordain the Pope to be the teacher of all Catholics? Part III

Now that we have had some Scriptural facts, let’s look at a little logic now:

There are only two covenants, the old and the new. But the first Christians under the New Covenant had a living and infallible guide to the truth in Christ himself. Surely the lack of such a guide in future times would constitute yet another covenant -- the difference would be so radical.

It is clear even from Scripture that Peter had a special commission and special powers from Christ to care for the flock of Christ, to bind and loose, and to confirm his brothers in faith -- indeed he had the very powers of the keys to the Kingdom. Obviously, these powers were essential to the Church as constituted by Christ. And Christ promised to be with the Church always to the end of time, and said that the powers of hell would not prevail against it.


Now, clearly Christ knew that Peter would not live until the end of time, so he must have intended that the power he gave to Peter would be carried on until His return. After all, Peter was to feed "My" (Christ's) sheep, and so was serving as the Vicar of Christ in Christ's absence. When Peter died, a new vicar would take his place, and so on, until Christ returned to claim his own. The parable of the steward awaiting his Master's return is very much to the point.

Just as clearly, Peter's authority also enabled himself (and his successors) to set forth the manner in which their successors would be selected, either by choosing the successor personally before death, or by setting forth some other means -- eventually, election by the college of cardinals.

Moreover, if these special and essential powers were to pass out of existence, it would be proof that Christ was no longer with his Church and that the powers of Hell had indeed prevailed. Therefore, again, Christ must have intended successors to Peter.

For this reason, we are not at all surprised that subsequent popes claimed to have the Petrine power and that the early Christian community accepted it without question. As I indicated above, this authority was exercised by the fourth Pope, Clement, while St. John the Evangelist was still alive. The earliest Christians were in a position to know Christ's will from other sources than Scripture, just as we today, under the guidance of the Church, are able to learn from Tradition. And we can assuredly trust in tradition because the Bible told us to in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 – “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”

***Note that the above article (with the exception of the last sentence) is from EWTN website. To read the whole thing click here. ***

The early Church was structured in a hierarchical manner as it is today. We see in Acts, chapter 15 how the apostles and the elders came together under the leadership of St. Peter to decide the question of what was required of Gentiles. We also see how St. Peter was regarded as the head of the Church when St. Paul, "Went up to Jerusalem to confer with Kephas [Peter] and remained with him fifteen days." (Galatians 1:18) There is no Scriptural evidence of independent local churches.

The Catholic Church is the only church that can claim to have been founded by Christ personally. Every other church traces its lineage back to a mere human person such as Martin Luther or John Wesley. The Catholic Church can trace its lineage back to Jesus Christ who appointed St. Peter as the first pope. This line of popes has continued unbroken for almost 2,000 years. We started first Pope Saint Peter (32-67), then Pope St. Linus (67-76), then Pope St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88), then St. Clement I (88-97), then St. Evaristus (97-105), then St. Alexander I (105-115), then St. Sixtus I (115-125) also called Xystus I, then St. Telesphorus (125-136), then St. Hyginus (136-140), then St. Pius I (140-155), and all the way to our present Pope Benedict XVI.

God rules, instructs and sanctifies His people through His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preserves the Word of God. She is the custodian, keeper, dispenser and interpreter of teachings of Christ. And she accomplishes this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.

***Note that I didn’t write the majority of this article either, but I forget where I got it from. :( Oops. So, just know that I am not taking credit for this article.***

Did God ordain the Pope to be the teacher of all Catholics? Part II

Now that we have gone through the passage of Matthew 16:17-18, let us look and see if we can find evidence that the Church’s teaching is correct. Let’s first start with finding ample, Gospel evidence that Peter was first in authority among the apostles:

When they were named, Peter almost always headed the list – Matthew 10:1-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16.

Sometimes it was only “Peter and his companions” – Luke 9:32

Peter was the one who generally spoke for the apostles – Matthew 18:21; Mark 8:29; Luke 12:41; John 6:69.

Peter figured in many of the most dramatic scenes – Matthew 14:28-32, 17:24; Mark 10:28.

Now for after the Ascension:

Acts 1:15-16 – Peter stands up and tells the others that they must appointment to another who witnessed of the life, death and resurrection of Christ to replace Judas.

Acts 2:14-41 – After Pentecost, Peter stood with the Apostles and gave the first public sermon about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After that he and the others baptized around 3,000 people that day.

Acts 3:1-4:4 – Peter was the first to work a public miracle, he cured a lame man, after which he preached to the people which brought about more converts.

Acts 4:5-21 – When questioned by the Jewish High Council, Peter defends in undismayed and impressive fashion the cause of Jesus and the obligation and liberty of the Apostles to preach the Gospel.

Acts 5: 1-11 – When a couple, named Ananias and Sapphira, attempted to deceive the Apostles and the people, Peter appears as judge of their action, and God executes the sentence of punishment passed by the Apostle by causing the sudden death of the two guilty parties.

Acts 5:12-16 - there is special mention of Peter, since it is recorded that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and neighboring towns carried their sick in their beds into the streets so that the shadow of Peter might fall on them and they might be thereby healed.

Galatians 1:18-20 - A confirmation of the position accorded to Peter by Luke, in the Acts, is afforded by the testimony of St. Paul.


Acts 12:1-18 – Peter was thrown into prison by Herod Agrippa I, intending to have him also executed; however, Peter was freed in a miraculous manner, and, proceeding to the house of the mother of John Mark, where many of the faithful were assembled for prayer, informed them of his liberation from the hands of Herod, commissioned them to communicate the fact to James and the brethren, and then left Jerusalem. As one can see from this verse, the Church still needed Peter’s guidance and leadership, so, by the grace of God, it was not yet Peter’s time to die.

So, there are some of the numerous examples that Peter was head of the Church after Jesus ascended into heaven. There are even more examples in Scripture of Peter’s leadership. To be sure, Peter was not perfect. He was human, and humans make mistakes; however, he still had the promise of Christ to be infallible in matters of faith and morals.


To be continued..........

***Note that much of this information is taken from Catholic sources, namely: New Advent Online Catholic Encyclopedia, EWTN website, and Catholic Answers.***

Catholic Info

Hey everyone! Now that I have a blog I can share with people some things about my beloved faith.....and now is the time! Here are some thoughts (and facts) to start with:

The Eucharist: The Catholic faith is centered around the Eucharist; which we believe is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. If a Catholic doesn't believe that, he/she has no right calling themselves a Catholic; as Fr. John Corapi says, "If you do not believe what we [the Church] believe, then you are a heretic!" Without the Eucharist we would be any other Protestant religion. How do we know that it is Jesus in that tiny host and not just bread? "Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.' "(Luke 22: 19) Did you get that? He didn't say "this represents my body", or "pass crackers around on Sunday in imitation of this." No. He said, "This is my body...do this in memory of me."! We are ultimately blessed to have Christ at our disposal everyday of the year, except Good Friday. We can never appreciate or fully conceive Who we are receiving..it is so awesome!

Where we came from: There is a Catholic T-shirt that says, "Who started your Church?" Jesus started ours and other Christian faiths have sprung from it. Martin Luther started the Lutheran Church, Chuck Smith started Calvary Chapel, and I believe it was John Smyth who started the Baptist church. Why after hundreds of years after Jesus Christ would these persons feel that they were "called" to start the true church? Jesus started the Catholic Church, nobody else. We know it is the true Church because we have the four marks: one-holy-apostolic-catholic (universal). We are one: because we profess the same faith, have the same sacrifice, and sacraments, and are united under one and the same invisible head (Jesus) and visible head (the pope; the Vicar of Christ); we are holy: the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ (who is all holy), and because it teaches holy doctrines (under the Holy Spirit), and provides the means of leading a holy life; our Church also gave the world its saints; we are apostolic: we can trace its origins to the apostles; and we are catholic/universal: because we are destined to last for all time, it never fails to fulfill the divine commandment to teach all nations all the truths revealed by God.

The Pope: What other church has a pope to lead them? The pope, whoever he is, is not perfect, he is human just like anyone else but we are guaranteed by Jesus Christ that the pope would never be wrong in matters of Faith and Morals. (Matthew 16: 18-19) He is our spiritual father who guides the people of the Church. Some people say that the Pope is rich because he surrounded by such wealth, this is not true because when a man is ordained, he takes a vow of poverty. All those riches you see belong to the Church, not the pope.

Mary: Protestants say that Catholics worship Mary, and that we deny that we worship her when asked about it. Well, duh! We deny it because we do not worship Mary!!!! We honor her, we don't worship her, because that would be idolatry. Protestants treat Mary as a nobody. Why? How could you not honor the one woman on earth chosen to carry within her, hold, and raise God. Mary was free from original sin. Why? Because how could the Almighty, Divine God be conceived into an imperfect being, who is blemished by sin? She had to be perfect and pure. Mary is our spiritual Mother who helps us reach heaven; she intercedes for us to her Son, and what true Son does not honor his mother's request? (the Wedding Feast at Cana [John 2: 3-8] ) People question why we have statues and pictures of Mary and the saints in our homes. Well, we have them there to remind us of them; it is just like carrying a picture of your friends or family members in your wallet or having their picture up on the wall.

(Reference for this post: Baltimore Catechism and the Bible)

Well, that is all for now folks! God bless you all.