My wonderful protestant friends let me show you who youre really dealing with here, in order to destroy or reduce the Catholic Church down to a mere manmade institution youre literally going to have to kill Jesus Christ! Good luck! CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 553. Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven [Matt 16:19]. The power of the keys designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: Feed my sheep [John 21:15-17; cf. 10:11]. The power to bind and loose connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles [cf. Matt 18:18] and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom. 816. The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peters pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it...This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsistit in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him [Vatican II LG 8]. 861. In order that the mission entrusted to them might be continued after their death, [the apostles] consigned, by will and testament, as it were, to their immediate collaborators the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun, urging them to tend to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit had appointed them to shepherd the Church of God. They accordingly designated such men and then made the ruling that likewise on their death other proven men should take over their ministry [LG 20; cf. Acts 20:28; St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor 42,44]. 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 16:18-19; 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 [LG 22; cf. Mt 18:18; Jn 20:21-23]. This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Churchs very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope. 882. The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peters successor, is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful. 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. 883. The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peters successor, as its head. As such, this college has supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff [cf. Vatican II, LG 22, 23].
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 15:39:56 +0000
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