The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - 10 Things to Know About the Pope

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Jeff delves into the role of the Pope, discussing 10 crucial aspects every Catholic should know. From the Pope as the successor of Peter to his role as the supreme pastor and teacher, and the significance of his infallibility, Jeff covers it all. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 449, 10 things to know about the Pope. Welcome to the show. I'm Jeff Kavens. Glad you join me again. If it's your first time, welcome.

On this show, we're pretty focused. We talk about Jesus. We talk about what it means to be a disciple. We're deep into the Word of God. And we love our faith. We do. And we like to put it into practice, I might add. That's what makes all the difference.

Not just being hearers of the word, but being doers of the word. You know, I was just, what was it? It was show 446. I did 10 things to know about the Catholic Church, and that got me thinking about other topics, and I thought, you know, occasionally it might be good just to go through some points about what we believe as Catholics

might help you as a Catholic. If you're not Catholic, it might help you understand what we believe rather than what you might find on the Internet, you know, or what somebody says, we believe. I think it was Bishop Fulton Sheen, who said that he had never met someone who hated Catholics, but he met lots of people who hated what they thought Catholics taught. Met a lot of people who hated what they thought Catholics were teaching,

which is, if you're going to find out what a Catholic believes and what Catholics teach, go to a Catholic, right? Well, I volunteer. That's what I'm going to do today, and I want to talk about 10 things to know about the Pope. So if you want the notes here, and I'm looking at my notes right now, and I spent quite a bit of time putting this together, I have a lot of notes, and I'm going to read some of it.

But if you want to get all of it, then all you have to do is get on the wagon here by texting my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word, Jeff Kavins, to the number 3377. That's 3.377. I'll give them to you. And we'll put you on the list. You'll get all the show notes in perpetuity. In this case, they are very valuable because I'm giving you a lot from the catechism and then 10 points that are important to remember when we talk about the papacy. I have to tell you that, you know, I was raised Catholic. You might have known that. But when I left the Catholic Church, I was about 21 when I left. And I didn't leave because of doctrine. I left because I was loved out.

I had people inviting me to a local assembly of God church and then a non-denominational church. And they were deep into scripture and fellowship and praise and worship and shared Christ with others. I just loved it, you know. And so I didn't leave because of some doctrinal issue. I left because I was going where the excitement was, you know, at the time. However, I did come back based on study. And there were four things that really caught my attention. that really opened the door for me to return to the Catholic Church.

And those were, number one, the Eucharist. That was one. The Blessed Virgin Mary as the Gheberra, the Queen Mother in the Old Testament, and in the New. The idea, number three, of the Word of God being Scripture and Tradition, which has been the position of the Jewish people all the way back. And it is for Catholics today, not Scripture alone, which came at the Reformation. But the fourth one was dealing with this issue, and that's the people. papacy and the biblical foundation of the papacy and the historical account from the beginning

all the way till today, Pope Leo. So let's do this, shall we together? I'm going to go through ten things to know about the Pope. And you can think about Pope Leo, I suppose, you know, when we're going through these. The first one kind of lays a foundation. And the first one I would say is that one thing to know about the Pope is that he's the successor of Peter. That's one thing. He's the successor of Peter. Now, if you want to really build a foundation for this, you have to go to Matthew chapter 16. And in Matthew chapter 16, we know that Jesus brought his disciples to Cessaria, Philippi, up on the northern border by Lebanon today. And he said, who do people say the son of man is? And they said, well, some people say John the Baptist, some

say Jeremiah, one of the prophets, you know, and wrong, wrong, wrong. But who do you say that I am? And Peter stood up and said, what did he say? He said, you are Christ, the son of the living God. And it was at that point that Jesus kind of broke in, maybe even did one of those timeout signals and said, guys, guys, listen, Peter, you did not know that on your own. my father who is in heaven revealed that to you and I say you are Peter and upon this rock I'll build my church and I give you the keys to the kingdom what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven

what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven so that scripture in Matthew 16 is the the foundational scripture that introduces a position that was spoken about in the Old Testament in Isaiah 22 and that is the al-habayet al-habait that is the one who's over the household. It's like the prime minister. And you know what's unique about the prime minister in the Old Testament kingdom? He's the only one with the keys. Isaiah 22.

And so what does Jesus do in Matthew 16? He gives Peter the keys to the kingdom. Enough said. That's scriptural. That's history. That's our Jewish roots. Take it or leave it, right? But that's it.

The Pope is the successor of Peter. Peter is the first one who has this position as the Al-Habait, the prime minister, the Papa. Then there's a successor of Peter and then another successor and another successor all the way down to today, Pope Leo. So number one, the Pope is the successor of Peter. There's a number of shows. Go back and look in the catalog here. I have, what, 449 shows. I probably did five or six of them just on the papacy that you can listen to.

And there's a lot of good sources out there that you can, you can. you can look up. Number two, the thing to know about the Pope is that he's the visible sign of unity, the visible sign of unity. And by the way, I'm going to give you from here on out, I'm going to give you citations in the catechism, okay? The visible sign of unity. We started number one with the biblical foundation of the establishment of the seat of Peter as the bishop of Rome. Now, number two, visible sign of unity. The Pope serves as the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church, Catholic meaning universal, not just a denomination, all groups keeping Catholics united in faith and practice across cultures and nations. The Pope is the visible sign. You see,

when Christ came, we are introduced to this incarnational economy. And that continues, that when Jesus leaves, he leaves someone with feet, hands, a mouth, eyes, and ears. The incarnational reality of this. So the Pope is the visible sign of unity. The Pope serves as the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Keeping Catholics united, right? Keeping them united. Now listen to what this says in the catechism, paragraph 882. The Pope, Bishop of Roman, 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. And that, by the way, is a quote that the catechism used out of lumensium. That is a by Vatican 2 document, paragraph 23. Number three, we're talking about 10 things to know about the Pope. He is the supreme pastor and shepherd in the church. Not only is he the successor, but in the visible sign of unity, but he's the supreme pastor. He's called to shepherd the whole church, caring for both the spiritual and the pastoral needs of every single believer.

So he models the love of Christ, who is what? A good shepherd, right? Again, Jesus wouldn't leave behind something that was opposite of what he was doing. He's the good shepherd. What would he do? He leaves a good shepherd. He leaves the successor of Peter. Now, then the catechism, paragraph 937 says the Pope enjoys by divine institution,

supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the kingdom. care of the souls. So someone might say, man, that is a lot of supreme power in one individual. You got to remember, it's Jesus who gives the authority and the Holy Spirit guides as the paraclete, the one who's coming alongside of the church. We don't just trust a human. We trust Jesus as the leader and the spirit as the one who empowers and guides us, working with a human. amazing thing number four he is the teacher of the faith the pope has the authority to teach on on matters of faith and morals his ordinary teaching helps to guide all of us as catholics to understand certain things like scripture tradition that's big tea that isn't we open our

presence on christmas eve big tea the big teachings of the church that have been passed on from the early disciples to us, from Jesus to the disciples to us. So the Holy Father has, and that's what we call them, by the way, if you're brand new, and you've never heard that term before, when we say Holy Father, that's a title of endearment about the Pope, because the Pope is a Papa, and he even says that in Isaiah 22 when it talks about the al-habite. So the Pope has authority to teach on matters of faith and morals. His ordinary teaching helps guide Catholics to understand scripture, tradition, and church

doctrine. So what does the catechism say about this? Well, it says in paragraph 888, that's easy to remember. It's three-eighths. Bishops with priests as co-workers have as their first task to preach the gospel of God to all men in keeping with the Lord's command. They are heralds of faith who draw new disciples to Christ. They are authentic teachers of the apostolic faith endowed,

with the authority of Christ. And so the Pope is considered really the chief, the chief shepherd and teacher. And he is the first among equals, going all the way back to Peter. Peter was the first among equals with the 12 disciples. Number five, and this is a very good one, because you might have heard me talking recently

about what I would call the custody of faith, that is the chain of custody, I guess I could say. Archaeologists use this. I learned this from my wife. The chain of custody means that when you find something in the ground on an archaeological dig, you have to be able to document the chain of custody from that moment all the way to the museum someday. And if you can't, then the chain of custody is broken. And we in the church, how in the world do you believe what you believe today?

And why would you believe what you believe today? Simply because some guy at Wheaton College or Harvard or Yale or Notre Dame said something? Or do you need that chain of custody from what Christ taught and gave to the disciples to what they handed on and they handed on and they handed on? That's what we have. And so the Pope really is a guardian of truth. He doesn't create new revelations, but safeguards the deposit of faith handed down. from the apostles. His task is what? To preserve, explain and defend it faithfully. That's a good thing. Who doesn't want that? You know? Seriously. What a gift. What a grace.

Now the paragraph, there's a couple of them in the catechism, paragraph 890. The mission of the Magisterium, pause, Magisterium is the Holy Father in union with the bishops. The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with His people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the people of God, that's you, abides in the truth that liberates. Ha-ha. Stick that one in a picture frame. That's paragraph 890.

And then paragraph 2034, the Roman Pontiff, and we'll get to Pontiff in a moment, the Roman pontiff and the bishops are authentic teachers. That is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith. to the people entrusted to them. You gotta love it. All right. So let's take a break. When we come back, I've got six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. We're talking today about ten things to know about the Pope.

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and I'm excited to announce that I'll be hosting season four of the Catholic Classics podcast from Ascension Press. This year, we'll read through the imitation of Christ by Thomas Acampus and unpack the timeless wisdom and profound spiritual lessons laid out in this book. You guys, the imitation of Christ is the second most widely read Catholic devotional ever written only behind the Bible. And so many saints have read this book, so many people have been inspired to imitate

the life and teachings of Jesus through this podcast. You will learn what it means to imitate Christ and how we can do that in a world that seems to only want to pull us away from him. Starting October 22nd in the Ascension app, we'll read a section of the book every single day and then unpack what it means and how it applies to our lives today. If you'd like to join me, you can download the reading plan for this series by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Catholic Classics. I'll see you on October 22nd in the Ascension app, and God bless. Welcome back for number six. We're talking today about 10 things to know about the Pope. So far,

he's the successor of Peter. The Pope is the successor of Peter. He's the visible sign of unity. Supreme Pastor and Shepherd, teacher of the faith, guardian of the truth. Number six, infallibility. Ooh, that's the big one, isn't it? Now, let me pause us here for a second because I know that if you're Protestant and you're new to the show, you are thinking to yourself that that means that whatever he says is it. He could be out there having a gelato on the street and say something. and the people say, oh, that's it.

That is not what infallibility means at all. Did you know that the Pope goes to confession? Say, well, why would he have to go to confession? Because he's a sinner like us. He has to keep his soul in shape. He has to protect him, his life. He has to make sure that he's walking in God's grace and righteousness, faithfulness, just like you, just like me.

Right? so infallibility and this is uh this is interesting when the pope speaking ex-cathedra that means from the chair of peter that that is a special place dealing with doctrine and morality and teachings of the church not what he thinks about a politician or something that isn't what we're talking about we're talking about speaking ex-cathre from the chair of peter from that authority. He defines a doctrine of faith, morals for the whole church. Catholics believe he is preserved from error by the Holy Spirit. And this has only happened a handful of times, actually, where there was this infallibility speaking from the chair, for example, with the dogmas of

the immaculate conception, and the assumption of Mary. There was a definitive word. given from the chair. The Pope is spoken. It's not what flavor of gelato is best. Now, the catechism says in paragraph 891 and 892, the Roman pontiff, head of the College of Bishops enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office. When a supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful who confirms his brethren in the faith, he proclaims by a definitive act, a doctrine, pertaining to faith or morals. The infallibility promised to the church resides also in the body of bishops

when together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme magistrarium above all in an ecumenical council. So I can just hear someone saying right now, oh, this is so complicated. No, no, it's not complicated. It's actually simple when you look at God and all of his grandeur

and all of his wisdom and knowledge and the size of the church throughout history and the majestic nature of his reign, we're dumbing it down here. It isn't just you and Jesus and your Bible and going to Vegas. No, this is the kingdom of God. Paragraph 892, by the way.

Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles teaching. Did you get that divine assistance? It's not just all baked in. Teaching in communion with assistance. successor of Peter, and in a particular way to the Bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole church, when without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a definitive manner, they propose in the exercise of the ordinary magisterium a teaching that leads to

better understanding of revelation in matters of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching, the faithful are to adhere to it with religious assent, which, though, distinct from the ascent of faith is nonetheless an extension of it. I'll give you an example. I teach at the Cate Catechetical Institute in St. Paul, Minneapolis. At the beginning of the year, all the teachers have to stand before the archbishop at the cathedral, and we have to swear an oath of fidelity to the truth and to the Holy Father and the Magisterium. So there you go.

We do that. We put that into practice. Number seven, head of the bishops. This is a good one. Head of the bishops. The pope doesn't govern alone. Okay, he's just not out there making his own decisions and everyone else is saying, well, okay. He works with the bishops of the world, who are successors of the apostles.

Pretty big deal. Together, they formed the teaching authority of the church. What do we call it? We went through this a couple times so far, the magisterium. the magisterium now don't feel bad if you don't know these words they come you know and you get to know them and and yeah catholicism has a kind of a metal language and it just takes a little bit of time but if you don't know don't don't be ashamed don't be embarrassed just say hey there's a new one magisterium that's the holy father in union with the bishops now the catechism says something

about peter being the head of the bishops in paragraph 881 the lord by the way all this is in the notes. 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 loosing, 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 primacy of the Pope. Beautiful. Number eight, we're talking today about ten things to know about the Pope.

Number eight is he's the leader in evangelization. My Protestant friends, that would be evangelism. Now the Pope helped direct the church's mission of spreading the gospel, advocating for peace, justice, and care for the poor, and vulnerable, all the vulnerable people worldwide. Now, here's what the catechism says about this. And I think this is a really important point, particularly in light of Pope Leo right now, who is very big on evangelization.

And a lot of what he says is equipping and preparing people for evangelization. And he sees the church as a church of evangelizing disciples. The catechism says in paragraph 858, Jesus is the father's emissary. Okay. From the beginning of his ministry, he called to him, this is Jesus, he called to him those whom he desired and they came to him. And he appointed 12 to be with him and to be sent out to preach. From then on, they would also be his emissaries in them. Christ continues his own mission. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you, Jesus said. The Apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission

Jesus said to the 12 he who receives you receives me so the church is continuing on with the evangelization the plan of sheer goodness and the pope directs this church mission of spreading the gospel very

very important you want to know about spreading the gospel pay close attention to the teachings of Pope Leo is an amazing man with just great insight but he's the Pope, too. Number nine, he's the servant of the servants of God.

One of the Pope's traditional titles is servant of the servants of God. And this reminds us that his role is not domination, but humble service. He's in humble service to Jesus, but he's also in humble service to the church. Certainly Pope John Paul II, remember back when World Youth Day, he was saying this all the time. that he's the servant to the servants. Paragraph 882, it's in your show notes. The Pope, Bishop of Rome, and Peter's successor is the perpetual invisible source and foundation of the unity,

both of the bishops and of the whole community of the faithful. It says in paragraph 1551, this priesthood is ministerial. That's that office which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people is in the strict sense of the term a service. it is entirely related to Christ and to men. It depends entirely on Christ and on his unique priesthood. It has been instituted for the good of men and the communion of the church. The sacrament of holy orders communicates a sacred power, which is none other than that of Christ.

The exercise of this authority must therefore be measured against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least and the servant of all. So you can see the Pope is the servant of servants. You've got a very good example to follow. And are you ready? Drumroll, please. Number 10. Bridge builder.

Bridge builder. This one might be a surprise to you because I don't hear this taught a lot. I don't hear it proclaimed from the pulpit, so to speak, you know. The Ambo and Mass, where people will instruct the people about the Pope's role. Do you know that we call the Pope, the Holy Father? We call him the successor of Peter. But we also have a term called the Pontiff. Have you heard that before?

The Holy Pontiff. It comes from Papa Father. That's where the word Pope comes from. And one of his ancient titles is Pontifex Maximus. Pontifex Maximus, the Pontiff. But what does that mean? Pontifax Maximus. It means bridge builder.

Did you know that? Pontiff means bridge builder. So what does that mean practically? Well, it means that his mission is to be a bridge between God and people, between Catholics around the world, and get this. And even in dialogue with other religions. And so technically speaking, the Holy Father, who is the pontiff, is the bridge builder between Catholics and Methodists, Catholics and Presbyterian, Catholics and Anglican, Catholics in Nondonams, Catholics and Pentecostal, Catholics in Lutherans, Catholics in Church of Christ, he's a bridge builder. And you can go back and look at the last four or five popes and you can actually identify who they were building a bridge out to, right?

Like, for example, Pope John Paul II was really building bridges with the Greek Orthodox, big, big, and the Anglicans, the Anglicans as well, and Lutherans. But also it was Pope John Paul II who built a bridge to the Jewish community in publicly saying that we, repent of and are sorry for the Holocaust. Now paragraph 846 in the Catechism says all salvation comes from Christ the head through the church, which is his body. And that's why the Holy Father is called a bridge builder, the pontiff. And he is bringing bridges, building bridges all over the world. We don't want to burn them, right? I want to build them. Build them. He's not called the Holy Bridge burner. He is the pontiff, the bridge builder. Well, there you got it.

There's ten things. Ten things to know about the Pope. So what do I recommend now? Well, what I'd recommend is certainly not to go out there and start bashing people over the head with all these things, but to use it as a point of dialogue in talking to people about not only the scriptural basis, like in point one, the successor of Peter, but also how the church over the years has understood this role, not only related to the Bible, but in relationship to the ecclesial structure of the church. And it's really a beautiful thing.

Now, I know that some people who have never heard this before are going to immediately think to themselves, man, that just seems so big and unnecessary. Again, this is not the Lions Club. This is not your Saturday Optimist Club. This isn't you and your buddies meeting with your Bibles and saying some prayers and reading and encouraging each other. this is a family, this is a kingdom, this is the universal family of God and it is big and Jesus is the master builder. Enjoy it, study it, live it, pass it on, but don't minimize it. My friend,

I'm going to leave you with that. God bless you and have a wonderful week. Thank you.