Why do Roman Catholics follow the pope?

Answer 1

AnswerThe Roman Catholic Church has a Pope because Jesus chose Peter to be his "Rock." (Mt 16:18: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.) Peter was chosen as the first leader of the church and he has had 264 successors since his death. ANSWERThe Roman Catholic Church, including Her leadership, was not started by any one person; it was founded by Jesus Christ, acting in the fullness of His divinity. It is the original form of Christianity; as promised, the Holy Spirit has continued to guide the understanding of the Church, and Her doctrine has developed over the course of 2000 years. Since Christianity is really the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament, its core belief preceded the Incarnation of Christ. Christ's message allows us to see the faith of the Old Testament from a new perspective. The idea is that the Old Testament believers believed in the promised Messiah (Christ) before he came and New Testament believers ("Christians") believe in the promised Christ who came.

At first the Christians were not organized into any official structure, though it was immediately obvious that there was an accepted line of authority. Since these men all preached against following the customs of men, it is clear that the idea of an authoritarian Church had to have been a direct teaching of Christ. This is borne out in Gospel passages. Whenever Christ was conferring authority, He did so only to the Apostles, never to the crowds or to the general public. The recognized leaders were the Apostles, and the congregations of each locality had local leaders, called "elders", "presbyters", or "pastor/teachers". These leaders were not self-appointed, nor were they selected by the local members of their areas. The Apostles, as shown in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, had to approve of and lay hands on these local presbyters---that is, they had to pass on the authority Christ granted them. This is today called Apostolic Succession.

Christians were persecuted by civil authorities because they would not recognize Caesar as divine. They met, often secretly, and corresponded with each other. The pastoral letters all speak loudly of the authority of the Apostles. The instructions of these letters are not suggestions; they are binding, to the point that excommunication is recommended as the final correction for anyone who refuses to obey.

For one special question, the Apostles and the rest of the church met together in Jerusalem (Acts 15, 1-35). In this meeting, the authority of the Church is again apparent. The council settled, authoritatively, a key point of the faith: that the message of God extended also to the Gentiles. In other words, the faith is catholic, universal. The results of the decision were sent out via Judas Barsabbas and Silas. This practice continues today in the issuance of encyclicals, bulls, and statements sent out to the Church by the Holy See.

Roman Catholics have known and demonstrated, since immediately after the Ascension of Christ, that the Apostle Peter was the first leader of the Church. Most Protestant Christians reject this fact and assert that Peter was an equal among many Apostles. However, the Book of the Acts of the Apostles shows, repeatedly, Peter clearly acting as the leader. There is no record that his position as leader was ever challenged by any of the other apostles, even though there was some discord as the fullness of the faith was wrestled with. For example, Peter was once corrected by the Apostle Paul.

As predicted by the Apostles, a variety of different ideas about Christ and about God were advanced by people claiming to be Christians. These doctrines had to be tested against the teachings of the Apostles; remember, there was not yet a written body of Christian texts. The Apostolic Tradition, those things taught orally by the Apostles, was to be the guide for Truth. This was in accordance with the directive Christ gave when he said, "Whoever hears you, hears Me." It was to the apostles (that is, the authoratative Church) that this statement was made. It was NOT made to the body of believers at large.

Teachings at variance with apostolic tradition were rejected as "heresies", that is, as false teachings. Only the truth as Christ passed it on to the Apostles is true. Eventually, in the 4th century, these apostolic traditions became the basis for the establishment of the Canon, that is, the collection of sacred writings Christians worldwide today call the Bible. The Church reviewed thousands of texts, measuring each against apostolic Tradition, and included only those which did not differ from those Traditions. The Christian Bible, whether used by Catholics or Protestants, is a Catholic text. It is interesting to note that, although the Catholic Church organized and established the canon of Scripture, there are many today who try to find within Scripture proof that the Church lacks authority or authenticity. Should that argument ever be found to be true, the Bible itself loses authority; if the Church that chose the canonical texts had no real authority to do so, then the canon itself must be seen as suspect. This is clearly not the case, for the Truth of Scripture has been borne out over the course of nearly 2000 years of human experience.

The keeping of the Traditions, which formed the early Church and led to the structure of the Bible, was, and remains, a central obligation of the Church. Even in today's secular world, when many people reject the fullness of the faith because it is inconvenient, or because individualism makes an authoritative Church seem outdated, the Church maintains that it is not within its power to change the Traditions as handed down by the Apostles.

Answer

It is believed by some (those who oppose the Papacy) that Peter had any successors. We see however in Acts that the first order of business was to fill the office of Judas. So we know that there was already a heiarchy established. We also know that there is documented, recorded history that shows the legacy of Jesus. If you want to know and understand why the Catholic Chuch teaches this or anyting else, I beg you to study and find out. Don't take peoples responses on these boards, research historical facts. Read the early Church fathers. There is a wealth of information out there and you must discern what is historical facts and what is someones opinion.

Answer 2

its like asking "Why is there a president of the United States?"! they're over one billion catholics in the world who need someone with absoulute faith in God who they can entrust their faith with.

Answer 3

The Pope lead over all emperors and kings who were part of the Catholic Church because the Pope was the closest being to God. Though emperors and kings ruled the people, they were ruled by God and therefore the Pope. Emperors and Kings who were not Catholic were not ruled or lead by the Pope. An example of this relationship is King Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII; Henry VII asked the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine and when the Pope ruled that there were no grounds for annulment Henry left the Catholic Church and divorced his wife. Once Henry left the church, the Pope had no power over him.

Answer 4

When Christ had all his apostles, he said to Saint Peter "You are the rock upon which I build my Church". Peter took his role as "Head Apostle" seriously, writing letters to followers and spearding the Word across the globe.

He went to Rome, where he was persecuted for his Christianity; he asked to be crucified upside down, according to legend, because he felt being crucified as Christ was was too good for him.

With Peter gone, the Christians needed a new leader: Peter had chosen St Linus as his successor as the Bishop of Rome (the other title that the Pope holds) and so the torch was passed. At this time, there was no "Roman Catholic Church"... the Christians were pretty much a sect of people who ebelived much the same thing, taught by people who had known Christ. They didn't have a "Pope" in the sense we have one, they had a council of elders who resolved arguements and asnwered questions.

Little by little, people broke off into sects. When Constantine declared Christianity his religion (circa 300 AD), he wanted people to all belong... the Nicene creed, which outline the beliefs a "Christian" has ... (I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth, an in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord...")- the centre of the Empire was Rome, so it was also the centre of the Church.

When the centre of the empire moved top Constantinople, the Church remained in Rome, to keep it's roots.

It's called the Papacy, and the leader is called the Pope, because it's the Italian for Father- much as a Priest is called "Father", the church has its father, the Pope. When the Protestant reformation came, the Catholic Church remained led by the Pope, but the breakaway sects were led by whomever they felt had authority.

And that's why the Catholic Church has a Pope.

Catholic AnswerIn the Old Testament, in the Davidic Kingdom, there was a Prime Minister who held the "power of the keys" and ruled in the King's name. Jesus specifically refers to this when making Peter his Vicar on earth, thus establishing what we now call the Papacy.

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

880 When Christ instituted the Twelve, "he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, a the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them." (Lumen gentium 19; cf Lk 6:13; Jn 21:15-17) Just as "by the Lord's institution, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a single apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another." (Lumen gentium 22; cf. Codex Iuris Canonici, can 330.)

881 The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. (Cf. Mt 16:18-10; Jn 21:15-17.) "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head." (Lumen gentium 22 section 2) This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." (Lumen gentium 23) For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered. (Lumen gentium 22; cf. Christus Dominus 2, 9.)

Answer 5

Because without the Pope, there is no Catholic Church. In Matthew 16:17-19, Our Blessed Lord began the Papacy on St. Peter, He was basing this on Isaiah 22:2-25. In Matthew 16-17-19, Our Blessed Lord tells us that He will build HIS Church on St. Peter, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. When He is doing this, it isn't just St. Peter, but He is establishing an Office, that of His Vicar, the Vicar of Christ, so it is St. Peter and his successors who take up that office on which the Church is built, as on a firm foundation.

Isaiah 22: 15-25

Thus says the Lord God of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: What have you to do here and whom have you here, that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a tomb on the height, and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you, and whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots, you shame of your master's house. I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken."

St. Matthew 16:17-19:

And Jesus answering, said to him [Peter]: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Answer 6

It is important to have a Pope because Our Blessed Lord gave him to us as His Vicar (see St. Matthew's Gospel:

Matthew 16:17-19:

And Jesus answering, said to him [Peter]: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

to rule and guide His Church. Thus without the Pope, there is no Christian Church.

Answer 7

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Catholic AnswerFirst of all, Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is rarely used by the Catholic Church.

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Secondly, Catholics follow the pope because Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, appointed St. Peter and his successors, the Popes, as His Vicars on earth. See. St. Matthew 16:17-19:

And Jesus answering, said to him [Peter]: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Thus we follow Our Blessed Lord by obeying the voice of His Vicar on earth, as He told us to.

Answer 8

Jesus handed metaphorical keys to the apostle Peter, who became the first pope. Since then, each pope has handed the keys down to the next pope when he died.