Roman Pope's Authority
The Roman Catholic Church is ordered on a hierarchy, from priest to bishop, archbishop to cardinal, and above them all the pope. There can be considerable confusion about the authority of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope: what kind of authority he has, why he has authority, what he really is. The pope is the leader of the church, a spiritual ruler who has been ordained in a direct line from St. Peter, but whose authority comes not from predecessors, rather from Christ himself. As Fr. John Laux says, “The primitive church was not a democracy.” (Catholic Apologetics bk 4, pg 99) When he established the church, Christ established the apostles at the head, telling them in particular to go forth and teach. He told them to pass on their power; we see