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It has happened to the present Pope.
Dr. Anca-Maria Cernea, Doctor at the Center for Diagnosis and Treatment-Victor Babes and President of the Association of Catholic Doctors of Bucharest (Romania) made the following speech to the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, at which the Pope was present, on Friday 16 October 2015.
The ...
27
Your friend is confused. Very confused. The Pope is not God according to any official Catholic teaching.
Catholics believe a lot of things about the Pope including his ability so speak infallibly (see ex cathedra) and that his role is that of an authoritative representative of God (see vicar of Christ). They believe a lot of things about the Pope that ...
23
"See" comes from the Latin word sedes, which means "seat" or "chair".
"Holy See" is Sedes Apostolica (lit. "Apostolic Chair") in Latin.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives this etymology for see, n.1:
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman see, sed, sied, siet, sez, siez, Anglo-Norman and Old French se, sie, Middle French sie, siet dwelling (c 1100), ...
20
What does “see” in “The Holy See” mean?
Each bishop and archbishop has the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of an episcopal see. The Roman Pontiff (Pope) has complete jurisdiction of the Holy See, also known as Vatican City.
An episcopal see is, in the usual meaning of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning ...
18
Luther saw the church becoming significantly corrupted much earlier than we might think. Generally I would say that Luther perceived a split between the 'real' church and the 'false church' basically around the time of St. Augustine, for he always separated the ritualistic ecclesiastical doctrine of religion, from the Augustinian spiritual doctrine of ...
17
The chair was real, but its actual function is different from what the legend says. And actually, it seems to have been three chairs: one "commode"-type seat, and two porphyry "pierced" chairs. Read on for more.
In Misconceptions About the Middle Ages (page 66-7; ed. Harris and Grigsby), a description is given of the chairs' function in papal coronations:
...
16
Most scholars dismiss this is as fiction. Indeed the Catholic Encyclopedia brings up multiple variations on the story, each of which can be easily debunked.
Perhaps the most damning proof that this is a legend would stem from the fact that nobody - including enemies at the time - ever made such accusations. From Wikipedia:
It is also notable that ...
16
On a historical note, as with Pope Joan story, this too never happened. These the two myths became connected in a well circulated rumor which what eye-witnesses to medieval papal coronations believed they were watching. The result was the often repeated report of a public rite always seen by others, never by the narrator.
If Pope Joan story is not true, ...
15
When Jesus first met Peter, he was known as "Simon, son of John". Simon was a fisherman as likely his father was and his father's father and so on. In eastern and middle-eastern cultures, a person's identity is much more closely associated with who his father is. Simon's identity as a fisherman was closely tied to who his father was.
When Jesus calls ...
12
Popes confess to another priest, like any other priest. Pope Francis' long-standing confessor is a Croatian Franciscan priest in Argentina, Fr Berislav Ostojic.
People get to choose their own confessor whom they are comfortable with and trust to give good advice. The Pope is no different to anyone else.
I'm not sure that confession can be conducted by ...
12
Paragraph 937 of the Catechism is part of an "In Brief" section that occurs at the end of every topic of the Catechism. The "In Brief" sections are intended to summarize the paragraphs that have gone before. In this case, the paragraph is restating material that occurs in paragraphs 881 and 882. In particular:
"For the Roman Pontiff,...
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This is not completely hypothetical.
In the mid-300s, Pope Liberius may have signed a statement supporting what later became known as Arian heresy. That he did so in exile and possibly under torture is mitigation, and the story is complex, but it is a more concrete version of this question. In any event, there was clear pressure from the Emperor that came ...
11
Apostolic succession and Papal succession are not one and the same.
Is the nature of apostolic succession meant to be an unbroken succession of valid popes?
No. Rather the nature of apostolic succession is meant to be an unbroken succession of valid bishops.
Not just the pope, but all Catholic bishops have unbroken apostolic succession. In other words, ...
answered Jun 14 '15 at 5:26
Jayarathina Madharasan
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10
My answer on this would be to refer to Tertullian on the subject. Tertullian was, of course, a Catholic who lived in the time when the doctrine that the power of the keys is inherited by the bishops from Peter was being developed by certain bishops in North Africa. He objected strenuously to it, writing his treatise De Pudicitia (i.e. On Modesty) against ...
10
There are a number of related questions here.
The Bishop of Rome
The Bishop of Rome (i.e., the Pope), being the universal pastor of the Catholic Church, may celebrate in any rite he wishes at any moment.
There is not a specific norm in the Canon Law (abbreviated CIC)—the law for the Western church—or the Code of Canons of Oriental churches (abbreviated ...
10
Biblical
The only Biblical information we have that Peter might have been in Rome is the cryptic reference in 1 Peter 5:13, "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark." If "Babylon" is the cryptic name for Rome, as is commonly claimed, then this might be the sole source of information from the Bible.
...
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Commend:
To entrust or commit to the care of someone else.
Thus: "We entrust and commit these souls unto the Lord's care / keeping / mercy."
Speaking as a non-Catholic, the Pope most certainly does not have any special power over the disposition of the departed. Nor would most Christians, I think, believe that this expression (which is used by ...
9
The roots of the doctrine in its primative form actually reaches back to the views of very early church fathers. I add this history to show the period prior to people like Joachim described in the other post. The idea stems from a very early belief by church fathers that the antichrist would be a new form of government in the Roman Empire. A powerful papacy ...
9
The Bible does not mention Peter as ever going to Rome, and there is no early Christian record of this being the case. Even at the end of the first century, the author of 1 Clement appears unaware that St. Peter ever came to Rome. Written from Rome, 1 Clement mentions Peter's 'many labours' and makes a general comment about Peter's death, without mentioning ...
9
The short answer to 'Why are there only male popes?' is 'Because there are only male priests.' The Church spells out the why of that practice in a formal doctrinal statement within the Catechism of the Catholic church -- article 1577 presents the basic support for this position.
The Catechism uses varied references to support its teachings: Scripture ...
9
In the case of a disputed election, the decision is largely based on which pope is elected first, although this is not always the case. Eulalius was elected pope in 418, one day before Boniface I. However, through overconfidence, Eulalius flouted an imperial order and the emperor then recognised Boniface as the rightful pope, leaving Eulalius as antipope. So,...
9
As the article here states (linked in the comments), the short answer is that the current legislation of the Church (i.e. the Canon Law) does not foresee such situation to occur. Perhaps it does not do so because under its own beliefs, God will never allow that to happen.
On the one hand, some excommunications (ferendae sententiae) are not automatic. They ...
8
I don't know more context for the picture, but the title "Pope visits holy site of Sermon on the Mount" indicates, that the chair is not a part of Pope's usual attributes, but that it's part of the chapel on Mount of Beatitudes.
This inverted or Saint Peter's cross is not very common in catholic context, but very few Catholics would feel bad if they were on ...
8
Pope John Paul II abolished the Promotor fidei (Promoter of the Faith) office, better known as Advocatus diaboli (Devil's advocate) in 1983
No, he did not abolish this office. There is still one Promoter of the Faith for every cause of canonization. What Pope John Paul II did was to reduce his power to a great extent and change his role in the process of ...
answered Apr 27 '14 at 17:34
Jayarathina Madharasan
8,6451 gold badge32 silver badges58 bronze badges
7
This question, and the evidence of the Galatians passage, was hotly contested by mediaeval theologians and canonists, especially during the Western Schism (when there were up to three simultaneous papal claimants). It certainly seems to show that dissent is possible, and that an individual Pope might not always practice what he preaches.
Beyond ordinary ...
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The doctrine of original sin says that every human being is a sinner.
Indeed, the Bible also says:
Romans 3:10
As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
and
Isaiah 56:3
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
and Isaiah 64:6
We have all ...
7
In order to understand this, it is necessary to understand the possible bases for Catholic a theological belief.
My answer here discusses the role of Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture in the Church; and my answer here begins a discussion of the Magisterium of the Church. These three are the grounds on which the Catholic Church can declare something to be ...
7
The Catholic Church (my own Tradition) believes that being made in God's image does not have such a physical reality. This 'image' is more a reflection of His own Nature. The closest physical way we 'image' God is that humans are both Male and Female who come together to generate a Third person. This "The Two Become One" is reflecting the Trinitarian Nature ...
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