Dear brother Don,
The Latins teach that the visible head of the Church is the Pope, the successor to St. Peter, who was appointed to that sacred position by the Lord Himself with the words, ‘Thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church’ (Matt. 16:18).
Well, that and the ones in John 21. I would personally add Matt 24 when Christ, in response to questions from his disciples of the things to come, informed them “
who is the wise servant whom the Master will set over his household to feed it.”
The Pope is, then, ‘the Bishop of the Catholic Church’
False. Can your source (not saying you agree with the source) offer any magisterial Catholic Church document to back up this claim?
her teacher, the vicar (agent, deputy) of Christ on earth.
All bishops are teachers and vicars of Christ, according to Catholic teaching. Has your source ever read the CCC?
He is the interpreter of the Christian Tradition.
If you mean unilaterally or by himself, that would be false.
When he speaks for the whole Church (ex cathedra), the Holy Spirit does not permit him to err. He is, therefore, infallible on matters of morals and doctrine.
True.
Other bishops are his lieutenants.
False.
He is the symbol of the episcopate’s unity.
Somewhat true. He is not only the symbol, but it is the responsibility of his primatial office to ensure it.
The Orthodox Church teaches that all bishops are equal.
The Catholic Church teaches all bishops are equal ontologically, but unequal by jurisdiction and by honor.
To be sure, there are different ranks of bishops (patriarch, archbishop, metropolitan, bishop); nevertheless, a bishop is a bishop. Such differences apply to the administration of a church or group of churches, not to the nature of the bishop.
This is not a difference between the CC and OC.
According to Latin ecclesiology, each local parish is part of the universal or whole Church. The totality of Catholic parishes form the Body of Christ on earth. This visible Body has a visible head, the Pope.
Latin ecclesiology also teaches that each body of Christians with a bishop is a true Church.
This idea of the Church implies that the local parish has two heads: the Pope and the local bishop.
False. Catholic ecclesiology states that any diocese can only have one PROPER ordinary.
But a body with two visible heads is a monster.
True, which is why such is not the case in the Catholic Church.
Also, the local bishop seems stripped of his apostolic authority if the Pope may contradict his orders.
Our canons state that for the good of his flock, a local bishop can dispense even from universal laws or the directives of a Pope.
Indeed, he cannot become a bishop unless the Pope allows it.
Absolutely false. The papal assent is required for the bishop to EXERCISE his functions within the Catholic Church. But it is the action of the local sui juris head bishop in collegial fashion that gives a bishop the power of orders (i.e., makes him a bishop).
Orthodoxy teaches that every bishop, ‘the living icon of Christ’, and his flock constitute the Church in a certain place; or, as St. Ignatius the God-bearer says, the Church of Christ is in the bishop, his priests and deacons, with the people, surrounding the Eucharist in the true faith. All bishops and their flocks so constituted, together composing the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
In other words, there can be no Church without a bishop, no bishop without the Eucharist, and no bishop or Eucharist without the true faith, the Apostolic Faith, ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’ (Jude 3) ‘The Church is in the bishop and the bishop in the Church’, wrote St. Cyprian of Carthage.
Also, there can be no Church without the Eucharist, the Sacrament of unity, because the Church is formed through it. The Body and Blood of Christ unites the Faithful to God: This fellowship or koinonia is the whole purpose of Christianity. At the same time, there can be no Eucharist — and no other Mysteries — without a bishop who teaches the true faith to the baptized.
No difference here with Catholic ecclesiology,
Blessings,
Marduk
