Getting to Know the Pope
Best known throughout the world and among more than 1 billion Catholics as the pope, the bishop of Rome is the supreme and visible head of the Catholic Church. The word pope is actually an English translation of the Italian il Papa, meaning father, which leads you to another title for the pope — Holy Father. Just as a Catholic priest is called “Father” in a spiritual sense, the pope is called “Holy Father” by Catholics all over the world.
He has a slew of other titles, too: Successor of St. Peter, Vicar of Christ, Primate of Italy, Supreme Pontiff, Roman Pontiff, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, and Head of the College of Bishops. The most common and best-known titles, however, are pope, Holy Father, and Roman Pontiff.
Think you’re under pressure at work? The pope has two big jobs: He’s the bishop of Rome (see the section “Bishops and archbishops” for more about bishops) and the leader of the entire Catholic Church. The Pope has a ceremonial role as head of state of the sovereign nation of Vatican City.
How the pope gets his job
The College of Cardinals elects the pope. Nope, that’s not a university where priests and bishops learn how to become cardinals. Unlike Notre Dame and The Catholic University of America, the College of Cardinals merely refers to all the cardinals around the world, just as the College of Bishops is a way of describing all the world’s Catholic bishops.
The pope handpicks bishops to become cardinals, and their primary function in life is to elect a new pope when the old pope dies or resigns. Because most modern popes live at least ten years in office (except Pope John Paul I, who lived only one month), cardinals do have other work to do instead of just waiting around for the boss to pass on. (For details about cardinals and their jobs, see the section “Cardinals,” later in this chapter.) Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote for the next pope.
The limit of electors is set at 120, but at one point Pope John Paul II (who was pope from 1978 to 2005) had appointed so many that the number of eligible voters reached 137. With retirements and deaths, only 117 eligible voting cardinals remained when JP2 died in 2005. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, created 74 new cardinals in five consistories (2006, 2007, 2010, and two in 2012), yet with retirements and deaths, in 2013 there were again only 117 electors when B16 resigned. (We explain consistories in the upcoming “Cardinals” section.) Pope Francis has made 31 voting age cardinals in 2014–2015. There were only 112 Cardinal Electors in 2016.
The electors can vote for any other cardinal or any Catholic bishop, priest, deacon, or layman, anywhere in the world and of any liturgical rite, such as Latin, Byzantine, and so on. Normally, the cardinals select another cardinal, both because they know each other better and because the number of cardinals to choose from is small compared to the 5,000 bishops around the world and more than 410,000 priests. Although extremely rare, if a layman is elected pope (as in the case of Benedict IX), he first has to be ordained a deacon, then a priest, and then a bishop before he can function as pope, because the authority resides in his office as bishop of Rome. If a priest is chosen, he needs to be ordained a bishop prior to being installed as pope.
Are there pope primaries?
The government of the Catholic Church, called the hierarchy, is more like a monarchy than a democracy. Catholicism is hierarchical in that one person, the pope, is supreme head over the universal Church. Yet bishops govern the local churches in a geographical district called the diocese, and pastors (or priests) represent the bishop in each local parish. Individual Catholics don’t vote for the next pope or for their bishop or pastor. The Catholic hierarchy operates like a military chain of command as opposed to an elected, representative government. So nope — no local primaries, no election campaigns, no debates, no political ads, and no popular vote.
Other religions and Christian churches allow for lay participation in positions of authority from a little to a lot, but Catholicism has been predominantly monarchical since the appointment of St. Peter. (See Chapter 21 for more on St. Peter, the first pope.) Laypersons are encouraged to participate in other ways. While they aren’t allowed to have jurisdictional power, laity serve as consulters and advisors to pastors and bishops. Parish councils and finance committees are composed of lay parishioners who advise the pastor before he makes important decisions. Laity also even serve in the Vatican to advise, counsel, and represent the Holy See to organizations like the United Nations.
You may have heard the saying: He who enters the conclave a pope leaves a cardinal. Meaning, when a pope becomes sick or elderly or dies, rumors run rampant as to who will take the Chair of St. Peter. Often, the press names certain cardinals as the most likely candidates; they’re called papabile (meaning pope-able) in Italian. But the papabile are usually the ones that the other cardinals never elect. If a man enters the conclave — the private meeting of cardinals for the specific purpose of electing the pope — as a favorite (or worse, if he seems to want the job), chances are he will leave a cardinal because his fellow cardinals will choose someone more humble.
Dimpled, pimpled, or hanging chads?
No sooner than 15 days and no later than 20 days after the death or resignation of the pope, all the cardinals are summoned to Rome for the secret conclave. Conclave comes from the Latin cum clave, meaning with key, because the cardinals are literally locked into the Sistine Chapel, the pope’s private chapel at the Vatican, until they elect a new pope.
After the cardinals from around the world assemble inside the conclave, they begin discussions and deliberations. Almost like a sequestered jury, the cardinals are permitted no contact with the outside world during the conclave. Under pain of excommunication (see Chapter 11), no cardinal is ever allowed to discuss what transpires at these elections — to keep the element of politics and outside influence to a bare minimum.
Election of a new pope could take place in one of three different forms:
Want a peek at what’s going on behind those closed doors? When voting for a new pope, each cardinal writes a name on a piece of paper, which is placed on a gold paten (plate). The paten is then turned upside down, so the ballot can fall into a chalice (cup) underneath. This symbolism is deep, because the paten and chalice are primarily used at the Catholic Mass to hold the wafer of bread and cup of wine that, when consecrated, become the body and blood of Christ during the Eucharistic Prayer. (See Chapter 10 for the scoop on the Mass and Eucharistic Prayer.)
If no one receives two-thirds of the votes or if the nominee declines the nomination, then wet straw is mixed with the paper ballots and burned in the chimney. The wet straw makes black smoke, which alerts the crowds gathered outside that a two-thirds majority decision hasn’t yet been made. One vote occurs in the morning and one in the evening. The election continues twice a day, every day. In 1996, Pope John Paul II introduced a variation in which if no one was elected by a two-thirds majority after 21 votes, then on the 22nd ballot, the man who received a simple majority (50 percent plus one) was elected pope. Pope Benedict XVI subsequently rescinded that change in 2007 and returned the requirement of two-thirds no matter how long the conclave takes. If someone receives two-thirds of the votes and he accepts, the ballots are burned without the straw, which blows white smoke to alert the crowds.
After a cardinal has received a two-thirds majority vote, he’s asked whether he accepts the nomination. If he accepts, he’s then asked, “By what name are you to be addressed?”
Pope John II (A.d. 533) was the first to change his name when he was elected pope because he was born with the name Mercury after the pagan god. So he chose the Christian name John instead. But it was not until Sergius IV (1009) that all subsequent popes continued the tradition of changing their name at the time of election. So, for example, Pope Pius XII (1939) was originally Eugenio Pacelli, John XXIII (1958) was Angelo Roncalli, Paul VI (1963) was Giovanni Montini, John Paul I (1978) was Albino Luciani, John Paul II (1978) was Karol Wojtyla, Benedict XVI (2005) was Josef Ratzinger, and Francis (2013) was Jorge Mario Bergolio.
Is he really infallible?
Catholicism maintains that the pope is infallible, incapable of error, when he teaches a doctrine on faith or morals to the universal Church in his unique office as supreme head. When the pope asserts his official authority in matters of faith and morals to the whole Church, the Holy Spirit guards him from error. Papal infallibility doesn’t mean that the pope can’t make any mistakes. He’s not infallible in scientific, historical, political, philosophical, geographic, or any other matters — just faith and morals.
It boils down to trust. Catholics trust that the Holy Spirit protects them from being taught or forced to believe erroneous doctrines by preventing a pope from issuing them. Whether the Holy Spirit’s intervention is as subtle as getting the pope to change his mind or as drastic as striking him dead, in any event, Catholics firmly believe that God loves them and loves the truth so much that he would intervene and prevent a pope from imposing a false teaching upon the whole Church. This belief doesn’t mean that personally and individually the pope is free from all error. He could privately be wrong as long as he doesn’t attempt to impose or teach that error to the universal Church, because the Holy Spirit would somehow stop him from doing so.
So what does infallibility mean?
Infallibility is widely misunderstood. It’s not the same as the Catholic beliefs of inspiration or impeccability:
Inspiration is a special gift of the Holy Spirit, which He gave to the sacred authors, those who wrote the Sacred Scripture (the Bible), so that only the things God wanted written down were written down — no more, no less. So the pope isn’t inspired, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were when they wrote their Gospels.
- Impeccability is the absence and inability to commit sin. Only Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, and His Blessed Mother had impeccability — via a special grace from God. Popes aren’t impeccable, so they’re capable of sin — which, by the way, was visible in the case of the first pope, St. Peter, when he denied Christ three times just before the Crucifixion (Matthew 26:69–75).
Everything the sacred authors wrote in the Bible is inspired, but not everything every pope says or writes is infallible. Infallibility means that if the pope attempts to teach a false doctrine on faith or morals, the Holy Spirit prevents him (even by death) from imposing such an error on the faithful. So, for example, no pope can declare, “As of today, the number of commandments is nine instead of ten.” Nor can he declare, “Jesus was not a man” or “Jesus was not the Son of God.”
Infallibility also doesn’t mean perfection. Infallible statements aren’t perfect statements, so they can be improved so that subsequent popes can use better or more accurate language. Yet infallible statements can never be contradicted, rejected, or refuted. So according to Catholicism, an immoral pope (you’ll find several in Church history) can sin like any man and will answer to God for his evil deeds. But as head of the Church, the pope retains his infallibility on matters of faith and morals as long as he remains pope.
No pope in 2,000 years has formally and officially taught an error of faith or morals to the universal Church. Individually, some may have been poor or inadequate theologians or philosophers, and some may have had erroneous ideas about science. That has nothing to do with papal infallibility, however, because the main objective is to preserve the integrity of Catholic faith for all the members at all times and in all places.
The pope can exercise his papal infallibility in two ways. One is called the Extraordinary Magisterium, and the other is called Ordinary Magisterium. The word magisterium is from the Latin word magister meaning teacher, so the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church, which is manifested by the pope alone and or the pope along with the bishops all over the world.
The Extraordinary Magisterium
Extraordinary means just that, out of the ordinary. When an Ecumenical (General) Council is convened, presided over, and approved by the pope, and he issues definitive decrees, they’re considered infallible because they come from the Extraordinary Magisterium. The Church has held an all-time total of only 21 councils. These are gatherings of the world’s bishops and cardinals. Sometimes priests, deacons, and laity are invited to observe, but only bishops and the pope can discuss and vote. The culmination of these councils is a written letter that explains the faith, interprets Scripture, or settles disputed topics of faith and morals. They never contradict the Bible but apply biblical truths to contemporary concerns and problems, as well as giving more understanding to essential core beliefs. The names and years of the councils throughout Church history are as follows:
- Nicea (325)
- First Constantinople (381)
- Ephesus (431)
- Chalcedon (451)
- Second Constantinople (553)
- Third Constantinople (680–81)
- Second Nicea (787)
- Fourth Constantinople (869–70)
- First Lateran (1123)
- Second Lateran (1139)
- Third Lateran (1179)
- Fourth Lateran (1215)
- First Lyons (1245)
- Second Lyons (1274)
- Vienne (1311–12)
- Constance (1414–18)
- Basel-Ferrara-Florence (1431–45)
- Fifth Lateran (1512–17)
- Trent (1545–63)
- First Vatican (1869–70)
- Second Vatican (1962–65)
The Ecumenical Councils have defined doctrines such as the divinity of Christ (Nicea); the title of Mary as the Mother of God (Ephesus); the two natures of Christ, human and divine, being united in the one divine person (Chalcedon); transubstantiation (see Chapter 10) to describe how the bread and wine are changed at Mass into the Body and Blood of Christ (Lateran IV); the seven sacraments, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (see Chapter 2), and other responses to the Reformation (Trent); and papal infallibility (Vatican I). These conciliar decrees and ex cathedra papal pronouncements form the Extraordinary Magisterium.
Ex cathedra (Latin for from the chair) pronouncements from the pope are considered infallible teachings. The only two ex cathedra pronouncements in 2,000 years have been the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950). When the pope teaches ex cathedra, he’s exercising his universal authority as Supreme Teacher of a doctrine on faith or morals, and he’s incapable of error. Catholics consider the Assumption of Mary and the Immaculate Conception infallible teachings because they involve the solemn, full, and universal papal authority. (See Chapter 17 for more information on Mary, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption.)
The word cathedral comes from the Latin cathedra because it’s the church where the bishop’s chair (cathedra) resides. The chair is symbolic of authority going back to Roman days when Caesar or his governors sat on a chair and made public decisions, pronouncements, or judgments. When the pope teaches ex cathedra, he’s not physically sitting on a particular chair but exercising his universal authority as Supreme Teacher.
Unlike governments that separate their executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in the Catholic Church, the pope is all three rolled into one. He’s the chief judge, the chief lawmaker, and the commander in chief all at the same time. That’s why the triple crown (also known as a tiara or triregnum) was used in papal coronations — to symbolize his three-fold authority and that he’s higher in dignity and authority than a king (one crown) or even an emperor (double crown). (Pope Paul VI was the last pope to wear the tiara. It’s a matter of personal choice and preference now.)
The Ordinary Magisterium
The second way that an infallible teaching is taught to Catholics is through the Ordinary Magisterium, which is the more common and typical manner, hence the reason why it’s called ordinary. This teaching of the popes is consistent, constant, and universal through their various documents, letters, papal encyclicals, decrees, and so on. It’s never a new doctrine but rather one that has been taught ubique, semper et ab omnibus (Latin for everywhere, always and by all). In other words, when the pope reinforces, reiterates, or restates the consistent teaching of his predecessors and of the bishops united with him around the world, that’s considered the Ordinary Magisterium and should be treated as infallible doctrine.
When popes write papal documents (anything authored by a pope), the title they use to refer to themselves the most is Servant of the Servants of God (Servus Servorum Dei in Latin). St. Gregory the Great (590–604) was the first pope to use this title. Check out the different types of papal documents from the most solemn on down:
- Papal Bulls
- Papal Encyclicals
- Papal Briefs
- Apostolic Exhortations
- Apostolic Constitutions
- Apostolic Letters
- Motu Proprios
Prior to the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), more commonly known as Vatican II, the type of papal document the pope chose determined how much authority he intended to exercise. (See Chapter 10 for more on Vatican II.) The preceding list indicates the order of authority that various papal documents traditionally had. For example, the lowest level was the Motu Proprio, which is a Latin phrase meaning of his own initiative. Somewhat like an international memo, it’s a short papal letter granting a dispensation or making a modification applying to the whole world but on a disciplinary matter only, such as an issue that has nothing to do with doctrine. An example of Motu Proprio was when John Paul II granted permission to celebrate the Tridentine Mass (the order and structure of the Mass as it was celebrated between the Council of Trent and Vatican II). On the other hand, Papal Bulls were considered the highest authority.
Since Vatican II, however, the content and context of the document determine the degree of authority and not just the type of papal document. If the pope intends to definitively teach the universal Church on a matter of faith or morals, then he is expressing his supreme authority as head of the Church. When John Paul II issued his Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, he officially declared that the Catholic Church has no power to ordain women. (See Chapter 14 for more on the role of women in the Church.) Ordinatio Sacerdotalis was not an ex cathedra papal statement, but it’s part of the Ordinary Magisterium, and thus, according to the Prefect for the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the teaching is infallible. The Cardinal Prefect is the pope’s watchdog to investigate all suspected cases of heresy (false teaching) and to explain official Church dogma.
Papal encyclicals are letters addressed to the world on contemporary issues and concerns. Encyclical comes from the Latin word for circular, because these documents are meant to circulate around the world. The name of each letter consists of the first two words of the letter in Latin, because every official document coming from the Vatican is still written in Latin. Encyclicals aren’t ex cathedra pronouncements. Some examples of popes who put encyclicals to good use include:
- Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum in 1891, which discusses capital and labor. It defends private property and business, as well as the right of workers to form trade unions and guilds.
- Paul VI presented the Church’s teaching on abortion and artificial contraception in Humanae Vitae in 1968. It’s not an ex cathedra statement, but Humanae Vitae is a part of the constant, consistent, and universal teachings of the popes and bishops over the ages. (For more about the Church’s stand on artificial contraception, as well as other sticky issues, turn to Chapter 14.)
- John Paul II wrote Laborem Exercens in 1981 on human work; Veritatis Splendor in 1993 on the natural moral law; Evangelium Vitae in 1995 on the dignity, sanctity, and inviolability of human life and the things that threaten it, such as abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty; and Fides et Ratio in 1998 on the compatibility of faith and reason.
- Benedict XVI’s first encyclical was Deus Caritas Est (2005) on the biblical passage that “God is Love.” It explains that divine love and human love are based on the same premise: All love must be both “give and take,” sacrificial and possessive.
- Francis’s first encyclical was Lumen Fidei (2013) on the Light of Faith. It was begun by B16 but finished by F1 and completes the trilogy of the three supernatural virtues, Faith, Hope, and Love, the last two having been previously done by B16.
Encyclicals are the routine, day-to-day, consistent teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium, which is equally infallible when it concerns faith and morals and reiterates the constant, consistent, and universal teaching of the popes and bishops. Their content requires religious submission of mind and will of faithful Catholics around the world. So-called dissent from papal teaching in encyclicals isn’t part of Catholic belief. The Catholic faithful willfully conform to papal teaching and don’t dispute it.
Now that’s job security
Popes are elected for life unless they voluntarily — without pressure or coercion — resign from office. (Pope Pontian was the first one to abdicate from the office in A.d. 235. Pope St. Peter Celestine V was the most famous to resign, going back to monastic life in 1294. Benedict XVI was the last to resign in 2013.) No one can depose a pope even if he becomes insane, sick, or corrupt. No ecumenical council has the authority to remove him from office. So when a bad pope gets in (and from time to time, a bad pope has been elected), the only course of action is to pray to St. Joseph for a happy death of the pope in question. (St. Joseph is the patron of a happy death, because he probably died of natural causes in the arms of Mary and Jesus.)
Although even one bad pope is one too many, Jesus picked 12 imperfect sinners as his apostles. The first pope, St. Peter, weakened and denied Christ three times, and Judas, one of the first bishops, betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. One repented; the other hanged himself instead of seeking mercy.
This is our two cents’ worth: Of the 265 popes in history, only a dozen were real scoundrels and caused great scandal. Seventy-eight popes are recognized as holy saints (see Chapter 18), leaving 175 pretty good, all right guys. Better stats than for presidents, prime ministers, or monarchs around the world.
Where the pope hangs his hat
The pope’s home is Vatican City, an independent nation since the Lateran Agreement of 1929, when Italy recognized its sovereignty. Vatican City covers only 0.2 square miles (108.7 acres), has fewer than a thousand inhabitants, and rests in the middle of Rome.
After 300 years of Roman persecution, the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in A.d. 313 with the Edict of Milan and thus formally ended the state-sponsored persecutions of the Christians. In A.d. 321, he donated the imperial property of the Lateran Palace to the bishop of Rome, which began a trend of donating property in recompense for all the land and possessions that the Romans took from the early Christians during the pagan era.
The donation of large estates stopped around A.d. 600, but 154 years later, King Pepin (the Short) of the Franks (who was also the father of Charlemagne) issued the Donation of A.d. 754: The pope would govern the territory of central Italy (16,000 square miles). From 754 to 1870, Vatican City was part of the Papal States, also known as Patrimonium Sancti Petri (the Patrimony of St. Peter). During the unification of Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the two men most responsible for creating the Kingdom and modern nation of Italy in 1870, seized the Papal States and, for all practical purposes, ended the secular rule of the popes. Today, Vatican City is the smallest independent nation in the world. Ironically, it also has the largest number of embassies and ambassadors around the globe. Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio, built a radio for Pope Pius XI; thus Vatican Radio began in 1931. Now, besides a radio and short-wave antennae, the Vatican has television and Internet programming.
The only real citizens of Vatican City, aside from the pope, are the cardinals who live in Rome, directors of other Vatican offices, and full-time diplomats who work for the Holy See (the pope and the various offices of Church government in the Vatican). These diplomats, clergy and laity alike, come from countries all over the world. They still retain their own nationality and citizenship but are given a Vatican passport while employed to represent the Vatican. Originally sent to Rome in 1506, about 107 Swiss guards protect the pope, decorating the Piazza (outdoor square where people gather) with their colorful costumes. In addition, plain-clothes Swiss guards, with electronic surveillance and sophisticated weapons, also keep a close eye on the Holy Father, especially since the attempted assassination of John Paul II in 1981.
Since 1447 popes had lived in the Apostolic Palace, which is nothing more than rooms at the Vatican where the Holy Father lives, eats, and does business. Pope Francis chose to move (actually stay) in the hotel used by the cardinals during the 2013 conclave that elected him pope. The Domus Sanctae Marthae was built in 1996 by JP2 to accommodate the needs of the electors as the Sistine Chapel had become too antiquated for living quarters.
Who’s Next in the Ecclesiastical Scheme of Things
Because the Catholic Church has a billion-plus members, the pope depends on many helpers to govern the vast institution. The ranking system goes like this: The pope’s at the helm, followed by cardinals, archbishops/bishops, vicars general, monsignors, and priests. The rest of the Church is made up of deacons, monks, nuns, brothers, sisters, and laypersons. (The latter — lay men and lay women — make up 99.9 percent of the Church.)
Cardinals
Although the primary responsibility of the College of Cardinals is to elect a pope (see the section “How the pope gets his job”, earlier in this chapter), cardinals have many other responsibilities as well. The Roman Curia is the whole group of administrators (Cardinal Prefects) who head up their departments (congregations, tribunals, and so on), working together as the right hand of the pope. The pope governs through the Roman Curia, something like cabinet members who assist the president or department ministers who assist the prime minister. For example, a Cardinal Secretary of State represents the Holy See to foreign governments, because Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent country. And you can find a different cardinal heading up each congregation, such as the Congregation for
- Doctrine of the Faith
- Bishops
- Catholic Education
- Causes of the Saints
- Clergy
- Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments
- Evangelization of Peoples
- Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
- Oriental Churches
A different cardinal also heads up each of several commissions and councils, as well as three high courts of the Catholic Church: the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Apostolic Signatura, and the Roman Rota, all of which deal with canon law (see Chapter 11) and its application and interpretation.
Cardinals who don’t work in the Curia run an archdiocese, mostly functioning as an archbishop would — ordaining, confirming, and doing the day-to-day business of being chief shepherd of the archdiocese. These cardinals are also often the metropolitans, which means that they supervise the province of two to several dioceses, usually all in the same state or region. (We define archdiocese and diocese in the next section.) A metropolitan doesn’t have immediate authority over neighboring bishops or their dioceses even though they’re within the cardinal archbishop’s province as metropolitan.
A metropolitan does report to Rome, however, if one of the bishops in his province is derelict in his duties, commits scandal or crime, and so on. Often, the apostolic nuncio, the papal ambassador to that country, consults with the cardinal when vacancies appear in his province, as in the case of a bishop dying or retiring. For example, the Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia is the Metropolitan for Pennsylvania, which incorporates the eight dioceses of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton, Allentown, Greensburg, and Altoona-Johnstown.
The pope personally selects the men who become cardinals. The ceremony where new cardinals are created is called a consistory, and it usually occurs every few years to replace those who have retired (or will soon retire), as well as those who have died since the last consistory. This way, the goal of 120 cardinal electors is more likely achieved should the pope die, in which case a conclave is called to elect a new pope. Since the pontificate of John Paul II, a concerted effort has been made to have a diverse spectrum of cardinals from all continents and from both Latin and Eastern Catholic Rites.
Bishops and archbishops
Besides being the head of the Catholic Church, the pope is also the bishop of Rome. The pope isn’t more a bishop than any other bishop, but his authority covers more territory. The pope has supreme, full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction all over the world, whereas a local bishop, who may also be an archbishop or a cardinal, possesses jurisdiction only in his diocese, which is the typical geographical designation in Catholic governance — an administrative territory.
Dioceses and archdioceses: The areas that bishops govern
Each individual bishop retains his own authority, which comes from episcopal ordination and consecration. Episcopal refers to anything that has to do with a bishop or bishops, and episcopal ordination and consecration is the sacrament by which a priest becomes a bishop. It’s the third and fullest level of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. (The first level is the ordination of a deacon, and the second is the ordination of a priest. Deacons, priests, and bishops are all considered clergy.)
The local bishop runs the diocese. He’s not an ambassador of the pope but governs the local diocese as an authentic successor of the apostles, just as the pope governs the universal Church as the successor of St. Peter.
The pope appoints the bishops, and they must make a visit to the Holy Father every five years and give a report on their particular diocese. The rest of the time, the bishop goes around the diocese confirming adults and teenagers, ordaining men to the diaconate (the office of deacon), and ordaining men to the priesthood once a year. Only bishops have the authority to administer the Sacrament of Holy Orders whereby men are ordained deacons, priests, or bishops. Bishops make pastoral visits to the parishes and chair numerous meetings with their staff. (See Chapter 8 for more on the Sacrament of Confirmation, and see Chapter 9 for more on the Sacrament of Holy Orders.) A bishop is like a pastor of an extra-large parish. (See the section “The parish priest” for details about pastors.)
The local diocese is a collection of local parishes, just like a state is a collection of counties and cities. Many dioceses are comprised of several state counties, and in a few places, the entire state makes up one diocese.
In general, you can think of a local parish as being like a town or city, and the local pastor as being like the mayor. The diocese is like a state or province, and the bishop is like the governor. (The pope is like the prime minister, governing the entire nation, except that he governs the universal Church all over the world.)
An archbishop runs a really large diocese, known as an archdiocese. For example, an archbishop is given authority in each of the following archdioceses: Newark, San Francisco, Denver, Hartford, Miami, St. Louis, and Omaha. Sometimes, though, the archbishop is also a cardinal, which is often the case in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Washington, D.C.
The bishops within an entire country or nation get together at least once a year in a gathering known as an episcopal conference. The American bishops belong to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); the Canadian Bishops belong to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB); in Australia, it’s the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC); and in Great Britain, it’s the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW).
Cathedrals: The place where bishops hang out
The cathedral is to the local diocese what the Vatican is to the universal Church. The cathedral is the official church of the diocese where the bishop’s chair resides, and his chair (cathedra in Latin) is a symbol of his authority as a successor to the apostles.
Ironically, St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, where the pope celebrates most of his Masses, isn’t technically the pope’s cathedral church. The cathedral for the diocese of Rome is actually St. John Lateran, where the popes originally lived before moving to the Vatican in the 14th century.
Bishops celebrate most Masses at the cathedral church. In addition, it’s often the place where the Chrism Mass (also known as the Mass of the Oils) takes place — unless the bishop decides to have it elsewhere in the diocese. (Curious? See the sidebar “Nope, the Mass of the Oils has nothing to do with your car’s engine” for details about this special Mass.)
Cathedrals also have daily and weekly Mass like other parishes, as well as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and such. But the pride of the cathedral is in the ordinations to the episcopacy, priesthood, or diaconate, as well as the Chrism Mass. (For more on ordination and Holy Orders, see Chapter 9.)
Note: Only the bishop may sit in his cathedra, so any other priest celebrating Mass must use another chair.
The vicar general
Vicars general aren’t military leaders like Generals Montgomery, De Gaulle, and MacArthur. They’re priests who are second in command in the diocese and appointed by the bishop to help him govern the local church. Sometimes, episcopal vicars are also appointed to assist the bishop in certain areas, such as vocations, the marriage tribunal, clergy personnel, Hispanic or minority ministries, and so on. In large dioceses, such as New York or London, vicars general are often auxiliary bishops, ordained bishops who assist the bishop of the diocese in the same way any other vicar general does except that they can help the bishop ordain deacons and priests and celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Often, these priests are given the honorary title of monsignor at the request of the local bishop. This title has no extra authority, dignity, or salary. You can recognize a monsignor by the color of his cassock — a long, close-fitting garment worn by clerics. This honorary title may be bestowed in three different forms:
- Papal Chamberlain: Also known as Chaplain of His Holiness, this is the lowest ranking of the title of monsignor. These monsignors wear black cassocks with purple buttons and trim.
- Domestic Prelate: These monsignors are also known as Prelates of Honor, and they wear purple or black cassocks with red buttons and trim.
- Protonotary Apostolic: This is the highest ranking of the title. It’s designated by a purple ferraiolone, a silk cape worn over the cassock.
The parish priest
The parish priest (also known as a pastor) is the next clergy in the hierarchy after the vicar general. Pastors are appointed by the bishop and represent the bishop to the local parish, which is a collection of neighborhoods in one small region of the county within a given state.
Some pastors are helped by a priest called a parochial vicar (formerly known as a curate or an assistant pastor) and/or sometimes by a permanent deacon, religious sister, or a lay parishioner as a pastoral associate. The parish council and finance committees, which are made up of lay parishioners for the most part, advise and counsel the pastor but don’t have administrative or executive authority.
Tough training
The typical Catholic priest isn’t what you see in movies or on TV. Priests are expected to obtain a graduate, post-graduate, or doctoral degree, and they often spend anywhere from 4 to 12 years in the seminary, which is the equivalent of Protestant divinity school. Most have at least a master’s degree in divinity or theology, if not a higher academic degree on par with medical doctors and attorneys.
Besides scholastic training, seminarians also receive practical experience from apostolates, which are weekly or summertime assignments in parishes, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, classrooms, and such, to unite pastoral education with theological and philosophical education.
A busy job
A parish priest celebrates daily Mass, hears confessions every week, gives marriage counseling, provides prenuptial counseling, gives spiritual direction, anoints and visits shut-ins and the sick in hospitals and nursing homes, teaches Catechism (a book that contains the doctrines of Catholicism) to children and adults, baptizes, witnesses marriages, performs funerals and burials, attends numerous parish and diocesan meetings, prays privately every day, does spiritual and theological reading, and finds time to relax now and then with family and friends. And once a year, he’s expected to make a five-day retreat in addition to doing his regular spiritual direction and daily prayer. Yeah, it’s a busy job.
With 1.18 billion Catholics worldwide and only about 410,593 priests to minister to their spiritual needs, that leaves an average of about one priest per 2,874 Catholics. Some areas have as many as 6,000 or more people per priest.
The hub in the wheel: The parish church
The parish church is where the priest does his job and where most Catholics hang out on Saturday evening or Sunday morning to attend Mass.
The local Catholic parish is often named after a title of the Lord Jesus Christ, such as Blessed Sacrament or Sacred Heart; after a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as Our Lady of Good Counsel or Our Lady of Seven Sorrows; or after one of the saints, such as St. Ann, St. Bernadette, or St. Joseph. The parish is the heart of the diocese because it’s where most Catholics get baptized, go to confession, attend Mass, receive Holy Communion, are confirmed, get married, and are buried from.
Some American parishes have a parochial school connected to them, but few of them have a convent of nuns who staff the school, although you can still find them here and there. Catholic grade schools were once the bread and butter of vocations and often fed into Catholic high schools and colleges. In other words, these parish schools encouraged boys and girls to consider becoming priests and nuns, and most students continued their Catholic education all the way through college even if they didn’t have a religious vocation. But economics, demographics, and declining numbers of religious sisters and brothers have resulted in the consolidation and closing of many parish schools. Public schools in many places are well staffed, well funded, and more accessible.
An even rarer occurrence is the parish cemetery. Nowadays, the diocese has centralized schools and cemeteries, but a few old country parishes still have a graveyard in the back of the property.
Father, are you a diocesan or religious priest?
Catholic priests are diocesan (secular) or religious (regular). Diocesan priests belong to the diocese that they’re located in, but religious order priests, such as Franciscan or Dominican, belong to that order.
DIOCESAN (SECULAR) PRIESTS
The typical parish priest is usually a diocesan priest, meaning he belongs to the geographical area of the diocese, which often comprises several counties in one state. He makes a promise of obedience to the local bishop and a promise of celibacy. Diocesan priests are also called secular priests to distinguish them from the priests who belong to communities and orders.
A diocesan priest gets a modest monthly salary from the parish. In addition, the parish or diocese normally provides room and board (meals and lodging) and health insurance, but only a few dioceses also provide car insurance. Diocesan priests live in parishes alone or with another priest, but basically have their own living quarters inside the rectory — the house where the parish priests live. They do their own work and relax on their own, usually just sharing one meal together.
Diocesan priests are responsible for buying and maintaining their own automobiles as well as personal property — clothing, books, computers, televisions, and so on. The individual diocesan priest pays his federal, state, and local taxes, including Social Security taxes. After making monthly car payments, paying for insurance, and possibly paying off bank loans from college, not much is left of the monthly salary, but the parish or diocese provides his necessities. Honoraria and gifts from baptisms, weddings, and funerals differ from parish to parish and from diocese to diocese, but it’s very important to note that a priest never charges any fees for his services. Free will offerings are often made to him or to the parish, but it’s sinful, sacrilegious, and rude for any cleric to ask for money while performing his sacred ministry.
Canon law (see Chapter 11) guarantees every priest one day off per seven-day week and one month (30 days) of vacation per year, not including the one-week annual retreat. If you think 30 days of vacation every year seems like a lot, keep in mind that most people get two days off per week. Priests work an extra 52 days each year to earn their 30 days of vacation!
RELIGIOUS (REGULAR) PRIESTS
Religious priests are referred to as regular because they follow the regula, which is Latin for rule, the structured life of a religious community. The Rule refers to how a religious order trains, lives, governs itself, and practices. Religious priests are more commonly known as order priests after the religious order that they belong to, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Benedictines, and Augustinians. They wear particular habits (religious garb) and take solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They don’t own their own cars or personal possessions. Many use community automobiles that everyone in the order shares. They have the clothes on their back and little else. They don’t get salaries like diocesan priests but are given an extremely modest monthly allowance to buy toiletries and snacks, as well as to go out for dinner or a movie once in a while. If they need to buy something expensive or want to take time off for vacation, they must ask permission of the superior who authorizes the money to be given them or for the bill to be paid.
They normally live together with three or more (sometimes more than 20) members of the community in the same house, sharing everything: one television, one computer, and so on. This arrangement encourages them to recreate together, because they must also live together, pray together, and work together. Unlike diocesan (secular) clergy who get small salaries and pay taxes, religious clergy own nothing. If they inherit anything whatsoever, it goes to the community or to the order, whereas a diocesan priest could inherit the family home but would also have to pay all the taxes and upkeep.
Deacons
Deacons are the clergy next in the hierarchy, right after priests. Permanent deacons are men ordained to an office in the Church who normally have no intention or desire of becoming priests. They can be single or married.
If the latter, they must be married before being ordained a deacon. If their wife dies before them, they may be ordained a priest if the bishop permits and approves. Married deacons cannot remarry if their wife dies unless they petition the pope for a dispensation (for example, when there are small children to be raised).
Transitional deacons are seminarians, students in training for the priesthood, at the last phase of their formation. After being a deacon for a year, they’re ordained a priest by the bishop.
Deacons can baptize, witness marriages, perform funeral and burial services outside of Mass, distribute Holy Communion, preach the homily (the sermon given after the Gospel at Mass), and are obligated to pray the Divine Office (150 psalms and Scriptural readings for clergy) each day.
Permanent deacons, especially those who are married, have secular jobs to support their families. They help the local pastor by visiting the sick, teaching the faith, counseling couples and individuals, working on parish committees and councils, and giving advice to the pastor.
Monks and nuns, brothers and sisters
Technically speaking, monks and nuns live in monasteries (from the Greek monazein, meaning to live alone), buildings that have restricted access to the outside world, allowing them to spend as much time as possible in work and in prayer. Monasteries are places where only women as nuns reside or where only men as monks live. Few monasteries have guest accommodations, and the monks or nuns live a monastic type of spirituality, such that they all gather in the chapel to pray together, they all eat together, and they all work somewhere in the monastery — cooking, cleaning, and so on.
Religious sisters, on the other hand, live in convents, a word that comes from the Latin conventus meaning assembly. Convents offer more open access inside and out to the secular world. Residents typically live and pray in the convent but work outside in schools, hospitals, and so on. Friaries (from the Latin word frater meaning brother) are the male version of convents, a place where religious men called brothers live and pray together. Their work is done outside the friary.
St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi both founded the first group of friars in the Church. Friars bridged the gap between the urban parish and the monastery, and they aren’t as cloistered or semi-cloistered as their monk and nun counterparts. How cloistered the group is depends on the religious order or community and the founder who started it.
You can find hundreds of different religious orders, communities, and congregations in the world today. Each community and order bases its spirituality on the founder of its congregation; for example, St. Francis founded the Franciscans, St. Clare founded the Poor Clares, St. Lucy Filippini founded the Religious Sisters Filippini, and Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity. Some communities specialize in teaching and others in hospital work. Some engage in several active apostolates, and a few devote themselves to a cloistered life of contemplative prayer.
For example, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Mercy, Religious Sisters Filippini, Dominican Sisters, Daughters of Charity, and Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius often work in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. But Carmelite, Dominican, Poor Clare, and other nuns stay in the monastery and pray, fast, and work for the sanctification of souls. You may have seen Mother Angelica and the other Poor Clare nuns on television from time to time and noticed that even while they’re in the chapel, they’re separated (cloistered) from the general public. Cloistered nuns live and stay in the monastery whereas religious sisters work outside the convent.
In contrast, the sisters in parochial schools aren’t nuns but religious sisters; they don’t live in a cloistered monastery but in a convent, and they teach in the parish school.
You can tell the order of the monk, nun, sister, or friar by their habit (religious garb). Franciscans typically wear brown, the Dominicans wear white, the Benedictines wear black, and the Missionaries of Charity wear white with blue stripes. Some communities of women no longer wear a veil on their head but wear a pin that identifies them with their order instead. The style, size, and color of the women’s veils also designate their community.
Religious brothers and sisters aren’t members of the clergy, but they aren’t members of the lay faithful, either. They’re called consecrated religious, which means that they’ve taken sacred vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They share all meals together and try to work together, pray together, and recreate together. Because they take a vow of poverty, they don’t own their own cars (no insurance, loan payments, or gasoline to buy either), and they have no personal savings or checking accounts. The religious order provides all these things, and they must ask their superiors when they need or want something. This is where that vow of obedience kicks in.
Looking at the Church’s hierarchy