The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 123: The Pope

Episode Date: May 3, 2023

Who is the Pope? Today, we focus on the role of the Pope in the Catholic Church as the Vicar of Christ and pastor of the entire Church. The Catechism teaches us that the institution of the papacy dates back to that powerful moment in the Gospel when Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, the “rock”, and handed him the keys of the Church. Fr. Mike unpacks this pivotal moment and helps us understand why the Pope is so foundational to the Faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 880-887. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year Podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity in God's family. As we journey together to our Heavenly Home, it is day 123.

Congratulations for making it to today. We're reading paragraphs 888-887, as always I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, you can download your own Catechism any year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com

slash C.I.Y. And I know that there are those of you who have successfully resisted up to this point, but if you'd like to finally give in, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. It is day 123 reading paragraphs 88887 talking about the Episcopal College and its head, the Pope. So remember yesterday, talked about Presbyterate refers to the priesthood, right? Episcopacy Episcopacy refers to the bishops. So the Episcopal College also we talked to a college, right? Not like a university, but has a collegial character. There's this commonality than the any unity that is given to the bishops.

They have a college, right? There is the Episcopal College, which refers to the collegiality or the communion of the bishops. And of course, the head of the Episcopal College, which is the Bishop of Rome. That's going to be like, basically, there's no need for any more introduction than that because we're talking all about today, the bishops united with the holy father, the role of the holy father that he has been uniquely assigned by Jesus Christ. You know, the holy father is the successor of Saint Peter and to Saint Peter, Jesus gave the office of binding and losing in a very unique way. It was also shared with the other apostles, united to the head, meaning Peter. And that's really remarkable, and that we have

that even down today. And so the bishops, they are the bishop of their own diocese, they are that successor of the apostle in their own diocese. So they have a great amount of authority, but they're always necessitated to be united with the Holy Father in Rome, right, to be at the United with the Vicar of Christ. So we're going to talk about that today. And it's just, yeah, it's each paragraph is another kind of just one more aspect. And so as we walk through this relatively slowly today, I'm going to try to read more slowly today, just because it's so, it's dense. But every little, I'm going to say this, I'm going to say that every paragraph is kind

of like a nugget. It's not really because nuggets are summaries. We all know that. But today, talking about the Piscopal College, what is it that the bishops or what is it the bishops do? And also the papacy, what is it that the Pope is and what is it that the Pope does? Looking at that today, so let's say a prayer, Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.

Thank you, that through your Son and by the Power of your Holy Spirit you established your church that thank you for selecting Simon the fisherman and Making him your vicar on earth making him the al-Habay to making him That that Prime Minister making him the Pope. Thank you for giving him that role and for continuing that by the Power of your Holy Spirit down to this day That visible sign of unity. Thank you so much, Lord. And that also thank you for giving us the apostles and their successors, our bishops.

Right now, Lord God, I want to lift up every individual bishop that every person who's listening. I just lift up before you, every one of those bishops that are our bishops, we ask that you please continue to guide them, continue to sanctify them, continue to protect them that they can lead us well, that they can teach us well, that they can sanctify us through their office. Oh God, make them holy. And by doing so, extend that holiness to your people as well. And Jesus named me, pray, amen.

And in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. As I said, in day 23, reading paragraphs 880 to 887. The Episcopal College, and its head, the Pope. When Christ instituted the 12, he constituted them in the form of a college, or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, he constituted them in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them. 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. 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. The office of binding and losing, which was given to Peter, was also assigned to the College of Apostles, united to its head. 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. 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. For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and his pastor of the entire church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which you can always exercise unhindered. The college or Body of Bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter's 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. The College of Bishops exercises power over the Universal Church in a solemn manner in an

ecumenical council, but there never is an ecumenical council which is not confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peter's successor. This college, insofar as it is composed of many members, is the expression of the variety and universality of the people of God and of the unity of the flock of Christ, insofar as it is assembled under one head. The individual bishops are the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular churches. As such, they exercise their pastoral office over the portion of the people of God assigned to them, assisted by priests and deacons. But, as a member of the Episcopal College, each bishop shares in the concern for all the churches. The bishop's exercise this care first, by ruling well their own churches as portions of the universal church,

and so contributing to the welfare of the universal church, and so contributing to the welfare of the whole mystical body, which, from another point of view, is a corporate body of churches. They extend it especially to the poor, to those persecuted for the faith, as well as to missionaries who are working throughout the world. Neighboring particular churches who share the same culture form ecclesiastical provinces or larger groupings called Patriarchates or regions The bishops of these groupings can meet incinence or provincial councils in a like fashion The episcopal conferences at the present time are in a position to contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete

realization of the collegiate spirit Okay, so there we have it. A lot of what is it called? That's in bolts. We'll say that. That's in bolts about the papacy and the office of Bishop. But so good. I mean, the reality is here we have this visible church that Christ instituted and he didn't

just say, hey, just go out and do whatever. He actually collected. He called to himself those whom he chose, those whom he wanted. We know this in scripture. And among them them he chose Peter to be the head. Now, in paragraph 881 it highlights this. It says, the Lord made Simon alone whom he named Peter the rock of his church. We recognize this from Matthew chapter 16. If you remember that Simon's name was Simon, and he was the brother of Andrew, and at one point when he asked the apostles he went to this place called Cesar Rhea Philippi and we know this through scripture. Cesar Rhea Philippi is

about 29 miles north of Kaepernam kind of Jesus is home base for so much of his ministry and if you walk up to Cesar Rhea Philippi one of the things you see is this massive massive rock coming out of the ground. I mean when I say rock I, it's kind of more like a mountain, but I mean, it's a couple hundred feet high, right? So it says, couple hundred feet high, many hundred feet wide, and built into that rock, built into that rock wall essentially, were at the time numerous temples. And Jesus asks the question, he says,

who do people say that the son of man is? And there's a lot of thoughts, you know, some say Elijah, some John the Baptist come back from the dead when we're one of the prophets. None of those answers are right. So then Jesus asks, they possible the question, and who do you say that I am? And then Simon stands up and he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus in response says, basically, he says, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father has. Therefore, he misses big deal. Therefore, you shall be called Peter. Because on this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now, this is remarkable for so many reasons. One is in scripture, whenever

someone's name is changed, they're given a new mission. I mean, name is so connected to identity, and name is so connected to mission. So here's Jesus, who's changing Simon's name to what? To rock. And upon this rock, I will build my church that in Aramaic would be Kefa right? C-E-P-H-A-S for us in English or English as far as I'm from but they would say Kefa which means rock. And in Latin it'd be you know Petros which means rock. And upon this rock I will build my church. His name has changed, his mission has changed, identity has changed, and it goes on to say, I'll give you the keys to the kingdom.

What you bind an earth, we bound in heaven, what you lose on earth, will be loosed in heaven. Now, this is one of the things that we always talk about when it comes to Matthew chapter 16, is that is a direct reference to the book of the prophet Isaiah, where they're talking about the office and the old covenant, the office, there's the king, obviously, the role of the king, and Jesus is the king. That's Matthew makes that incredibly clear. I mean, scripture makes that incredibly clear as well.

Jesus is the king, but they're in the Old Testament, was a role that served the king. That was the role of the Al-Hat-Bah-Eat, the one who's over the house. That's what Al-All is over, Ha, The, and Bait are bett-right, the house, the prime minister essentially. That's what I'll all is over. Ha, the and bite or bett right the house the prime minister Essentially and in that moment in Isaiah 21 it describes the role of the al-Habayt is describes the role of that prime minister And it said part of his role is what he opens no one shall shut what he shuts no one shall open He says I will put the keys. He has the keys to the kingdom of David on his shoulder So there's all these massive connections between what Jesus is saying to Simon, now called Peter, now Kefa, and

what was written in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, in the book of the Prophet Isaiah. And so all those apostles standing around would have known exactly what Jesus was doing, that Jesus was making their buddy, their pal, in some ways their leader. That's what he was doing. Because yes, just like we said yesterday, there's this dignity among all believers, right? There's this unity in their dignity and unity in belonging to the covenant. But there are also roles in that old covenant. And one of those roles being the al-Habayat and the new covenant, this again,

unique dignity that is shared by all believers, this unity that's shared by all believers, and yet there's a role in that role that Jesus specifically gives to Peter, to be the one who's the Al-Habaiate. In fact, it goes on to say, and I know I'm highlighting one paragraph, but it's an important paragraph. In paragraph 881, it says, not only did he give him the keys of this church it was on to say and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock this is so important what happens at the end of gospel of John at the end of the gospel of John Jesus is risen from the dead Peter and his brother and some other folks they're out fishing on the sea of Galilee they see Jesus on the shores Peter

jumps into the water swims to shore there. There's this charcoal fire. Jesus asks for some fish. You know, he makes some some breakfast of breakfast of fish. I'm not sure I would like that, but it's Jesus, so I would take it 100%. And what is he? What happens? He says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And Peter responds, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He asks him and he says, feed my sheep. He goes on, he says the second time, Simon, Simon John, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know, I love you. He ten my lambs, asking that third time, Simon, Simon John, do you love me? And Peter is grieved that the Lord asked him, if you loved him three times, he'd ten my sheep. Now, this is in this remarkable

moment where if you were to think, because we could be tempted to think this, we could be tempted to think, well, yeah, Jesus chose Peter in Matthew chapter 16. I understand that. But Peter lost that when he failed. Peter lost that when he denied Jesus. Peter lost that when he ran away. But here is Jesus in John's gospel, not giving any indication that Peter lost his role as

shepherd after his betrayal, after his denial. In fact, it seems like it looks like Jesus not only reestablished this or reiterated it, but that Jesus knew this was going to happen, remember in Luke's gospel? That Peter says, Lord, I'm going to suffer and die with you. I'm willing to do all these things. And Jesus says to Peter, he says, Satan has desired to sift you all, all of you. You, the other apostles, to sift all of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you.

That's a singular in direct. I prayed for you, Peter, that after you have returned, you may strengthen your brethren. See, all along the way, Jesus keeps on giving Peter this unique role. And we believe that the Jesus, the same God who gave Peter this unique role, is the same God who continues to call his successors for that same unique role, that role of binding and losing, that role of governing, that role of sanctifying, that role of leading. And that's what we believe. And that's what we got to hear about all today,

not the same time. The Roman Pontiff, which Roman Pontiff is a, I think it's kind of a fancy term, which means, you know, Pontiff means bridge, and Pontifex means bridge builder. So it's not like the Lord, because we know that the Jesus is the Lord. He's the only Lord.

The Pope is not the Lord. Pope is the servant, the servant of the servants of God. In fact, that's one of the titles of the Pope is the servant of the servants of God that he's united with the bishops. And it's remarkable here in paragraph 886. We talk about this that the individual bishops are the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular churches. So your bishop, your local bishop, he's the visible source and foundation of unity for your diocese. And as such, they exercise their pastoral office over the portion of the people of God assigned to them. So, yep, just like kind of in many ways, it's kind of similar to the way in which the Pope exercises this pastoral office over the whole world, the bishop exercises that pastoral office over his whole diocese and goes on to say,

he's assisted by the priests and deacons. But as a member of the Episcopal College, remember that permanent assembly, as a member of the Episcopal College, each bishop shares in the concern for all churches. So, I'm in paragraph 886, highlights this in the middle of the paragraph. The bishops exercise this care first by ruling well their own churches as portions of the universal church. So they're called to, in the dices deluth, they're called to serve well the people of the dices of deluth. And so because of that, by doing that, they contribute to the welfare of the whole mystical body, which form from another point of view is got corporate body

of churches. So in your local bishop, as he, the more and more, the better and better he serves his local community, the more and more the whole body is strengthened. In some ways, it's kind of an analogous to what St. Paul says, you know, when one member of the body is strengthened, the whole body is strengthened, and when one member is, grows weak, the whole body suffers. And so that's why one of the many reasons why not only are all of us called to many reasons why not only are all of us called to work together, not only are all of us called to continue to strive to grow in holiness, but we have to pray for our bishops so that they can continue to lead us well, they can continue to serve us well because again, when one member of the body is strengthened, we're all strengthened.

And so let's just pray. I invite us all to pray for each one of our individual bishops. Of course, to pray for our priests and to pray for all of our brothers and sisters, to pray for each other. Because we know this, we know this when even one of us, any, any one person listening to this, when you are strengthened, you strengthen the whole church. When we're weak and we choose sin, we're weakening in some mysterious way, the church. And so let's pray for each other. We have to. Pray, I just had pray for our bishops and pray for those who serve us, pray for those who

lead us, and pray for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thanks.