The sacred power of the papacy

With the dramatic pronouncement to the chief of the apostles, “You are Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church” (Matthew 16,18-19), Our Lord founded the Church and gave it his own authority to reconcile all people with the Father and save souls for eternal life.

The Church has a supernatural origin, being born “from the side of Christ”, as Saint Augustine describes it, and a supernatural purpose, to save all people for eternal life. This mission is exercised in the sacraments, the preaching of the Gospel and the witness of Christians, who are in relation to the world as yeast is to dough (cfr Matthew 13,33-35).

Yet the Church also has a human structure. That there exists such a structure stands to reason, since Christ’s mission must be carried out in time and history, where human beings operate! The Church teaches that, “In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its numbers without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body. The holders of office, who are invested with a sacred power, are in fact dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren, so that all who belong to the People of God ... may attain to salvation” (Lumen gentium 18). The Catechism of the Catholic Church elaborates this point very clearly, indicating in greater detail why the Church needs a hierarchy.

So Our Lord chose Saint Peter and empowered him with supreme authority over the community of believers, the Church (cfr John 21,15-17).