What are the chief powers of the Pope?
–The Pope has supreme and complete power and jurisdiction to decide questions of faith and morals and to arrange the discipline of the universal Church. • The power of the Pope extends over every single church, every single bishop and pastor, every one of the faithful. He may appoint and depose bishops, call councils, make and unmake laws, send missionaries, confer distinctions, privileges, and dispensations, and reserve sins to his own tribunal. • The Pope is the supreme judge; to him belongs the last appeal in all cases. The Pope is the “teacher of all Christians”, the “chief shepherd of the shepherds and their flocks”. “Peter, standing up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them …” (Acts 2:14). The word “Pope” is derived from the Latin term papa, which means “Father”. • The Pope is independent of every temporal sovereign and of every spiritual power. He is responsible only to God. What is the temporal power of the Pope? –The temporal power of the Pope is his po
