Pope

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POPE

As a name, it is derived from the Latin papa, in turn derived from the Greek πάπας (πάππας), which in classical Greek was a child's word for father. Papa and πάπας appear in Christian literature from the beginning of the 3d century as a title used of bishops, suggesting their spiritual paternity. From the 3d to the 5th century the name was applied to all bishops, but in the 6th century it began to be reserved to the bishops of Rome. The first writer to do this with any consistency was Magnus Felix ennodi us (d. 521). The practice of restricting the title to the Roman bishops has been universal in the Western Church since the 8th century.

The office of the pope is described in the Annuario pontificio (official directory of the holy see) by the following titles: "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Chief of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City." Of these titles, the basis of all the rest is the third, Successor of the Chief of the Apostles. vatican council i defined that Christ constituted St. peter chief of all the apostles and visible head of the whole Church militant, granting him a primacy not merely of honor but of true jurisdiction; that Christ established that Peter should have perpetual successors in this primacy; and that the Roman bishops are these successors (Enchiridion symbolorum 3055, 3058). The pope, then, being bishop of Rome and successor of Peter in his primacy, is the supreme pontiff of the universal Church. The term pontifex, used in classical Latin of the members of the college of high priests, began to be used of bishops late in the 4th century. The term supreme pontiff applied to the pope means that he is the first and chief bishop in the Church, and head of the episcopal college, having truly episcopal authority over all the faithful and all pastors, whether singly or all together (Vatican I, Enchiridion symbolorum 3060). As Christ, the good shepherd (Jn 10.11), before His Ascension appointed Peter pastor of all His flock (Jn 21.15–17), thus leaving him as His visible substitute or vicar on earth, endowed with the keys and the power of binding and loosing (Mt 16.19), so also the pope, as successor to St. Peter, is the vicar of Christ for the spiritual government of the universal Church. The titles Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, and Archbishop of the Roman Province are based on the principle that the Roman see, being that of St. Peter, is the chief see of any jurisdictional area of the Church of which it is a part. The last of the titles in the Annuario is based on the Lateran Treaty, by which Vatican City is recognized by Italy as a sovereign state with the pope as its temporal ruler.

See Also: apostolic see; bishop (in the bible); bishop (in the church); father (religious title); papacy; patriarch; states of the church.

Bibliography: p. de labriolle, "Papa," Archivum latinitatis medii aevi 4 (1928) 65–75. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne, ed. f. cabrol, h. leclercq, and h. i. marrou (Paris 1907–53) 13.1:1097–1111. m. maccarrone, Vicarius Christi (Rome 1952). m. j. wilks, "Papa est nomen jurisdictionis," Journal of Theological Studies 8 (1957) 71–91. p. mccord, A Pope for All Christians? (New York 1976). a brandenburg and h. j. urban, eds. Petrus und Papst (Münster 1978). j. m. r. tillard, The Bishop of Rome (Wilmington, Del. 1983). j. n. d. kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of the Popes (Oxford 1986).