Can a bishop 'borrow' the Keys of Heaven from the Pope?

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Nanotwerp

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I was wondering, on how Jesus gave Peter the Keys of Heaven, which probably wasn’t literal, or anything. There’s something about keys, how you can let someone borrow it so they can open the door themselves. The Keys of Heaven is probably what gives the Pope his infallibility, but what if he let another bishop ‘borrow’ it, instead of ‘giving’ it to him? Can a Pope ‘pseudo-appoint’ another bishop to Pope temporarily, or simply give him temporary infallibility?
 
Are you joking or trying to wind us up, which is what I think your trying to do 😃

Nice try.🤷
 
They Keys refers to the Catholic Church (and Peter) having authority over the Church and the Church leading people to heaven.
 
All bishops exercise the power of the keys, for while the keys were entrusted to St. Peter as the Church’s head, they were also entrusted, in a more general sense, to the entire Church. In fact, every time you go to confession, the priest exercises the power of the keys when he “looses” you (absolution) from your sins. Bishops properly exercise their authority in communion with their head, the Bishop of Rome, but their authority is also derived directly from Christ. In Matthew 16 we see Our Lord entrusted St. Peter with the keys and the power of “binding and loosing”. In Matthew 18, we see Jesus entrusting that same power of “binding and loosing” to the rest of the Apostles. This is important. St. Peter, as head of the college, is given the keys in a singular and unique fashion, but the college as a whole is also given authority. From the Catechism:
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.” 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.” The power to “bind and loose” connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgements, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.
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.400 "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head."401 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.
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894 “The bishops, as vicars and legates of Christ, govern the particular Churches assigned to them by their counsels, exhortations, and example, but over and above that also by the authority and sacred power” which indeed they ought to exercise so as to edify, in the spirit of service which is that of their Master.426
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895 "The power which they exercise personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church."427 But the bishops should not be thought of as vicars of the Pope. His ordinary and immediate authority over the whole Church does not annul, but on the contrary confirms and defends that of the bishops. Their authority must be exercised in communion with the whole Church under the guidance of the Pope.
979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin? “If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ. The Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives.”
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This was a large topic of debate in the early Church. In fact, they also proposed the idea that duplicate keys could be made and spiritually “passed out” to all of the faithful at confirmation. Many in the early Church proposed just that, so that all of the Christians could have the same power as the Pope. Eventually these actions were condemned, and those who proposed such actions were excommunicated.

In recent times, a new idea has gained ground: is it possible for the lock to the kingdom to be changed so that a new key must be made? There have been many opinions tossed around, but it seems the Church is leaning toward the affirmative. Some even suggest that the lock has been changed in the past centuries already!

:)]
 
xzereus said:
This was a large topic of debate in the early Church. In fact, they also proposed the idea that duplicate keys could be made and spiritually “passed out” to all of the faithful at confirmation. Many in the early Church proposed just that, so that all of the Christians could have the same power as the Pope. Eventually these actions were condemned, and those who proposed such actions were excommunicated.

In recent times, a new idea has gained ground: is it possible for the lock to the kingdom to be changed so that a new key must be made? There have been many opinions tossed around, but it seems the Church is leaning toward the affirmative. Some even suggest that the lock has been changed in the past centuries already!

:)]
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I do not understand this last sentence. Please explain. And who has suggested this and who in the Church is leaning toward the affirmative? Where is this coming from? Thank you.
 
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