What are the beliefs of Catholics about the Pope?

Answer 1

The pope is the Vicar of Christ. He occupies the seat of Peter, and is essentially Christ's chief apostle and leader of His Church here on Earth. The pope is also the Bishop of Rome.

The pope's responsibility is to lead the church. As you can imagine, the responsibilities are incredible and diversse. Most popes will spend their time focusing on issues or topics that are of interest to the Church needs at that time. The pope essentially listens to the cultural pulse and speaks out in the name of Christ on issues. For example, Pope John Paul II spent much of his early years focusing on building up the resistance in Eastern Europe to Communism which eventually caused the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Answer 2

Catholics believe that when Our Blessed Lord founded His Church upon St. Peter in St. Matthew 16:17-19, and appointed St. Peter as His first Vicar (based on Isaiah 22:15-25), he established an Office that would rule His Church until the end of the world. As Our Blessed Lord guaranteed St. Peter and His Successors, and through them His Church, we can rest assured that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And His promise has proved to be exactly what it was, the promise of God - and 2,000 years later, with some spectacular nincompoops in the Office, it, and His Church, still survive, just as He promised.

So with that as the base, we believe that each Pope is the successor to St. Peter. We believe that when he is addressing the entire Church on matters of faith and morals, he cannot err (this is known as speaking ex cathedra - from the chair; a phrase taken from Matthew 23:2, when Our Blessed Lord refers to Mose's chair, from which the Scribes and Pharisees teach.

Answer 3

Catholics believe that the apostle Peter was the first pope, or bishop of Rome, and that the present Pope, Francis, is his spiritual successor. They believe that the Pope is infallible when speaking ex cathedra on matters of faith.

Answer 4

The pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth, and he governs Christ's true Church. He believes in the Catholic, Christian faith.

Answer 5

The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church so his religious belief is Catholicism.

Answer 6

We believe that the Pope is the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle. Christ Chose St. Peter as His Rock (St. Matthew chapter 16, verse 19).

Answer 7

The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, his beliefs are theirs.