The pope's power

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Why would they?

The first Pope was also named Peter. Why isn’t Francis?

The first Pope also was Jewish. Why isn’t Francis?

The first Pope also denied Christ three times. Why doesn’t Francis?

The first Pope also traveled the holy land mostly on foot. Why hasn’t Francis?

The first Pope also was a fisherman. Why isn’t Francis?

Your question fits this same pattern and makes as much sense.
 
Do you have any proof that subsequent popes did not perform miracles? Soon to be Saint John Paul II comes to my mind as proof on the other side.

However, the ability to perform miracles is not what was/is passed on to the popes. The things needed to guide and preserve Christ’s Church is what is passed on to the successors of Peter. And the Catholic Church does not claim that popes will perform miracles.
 
PietroPaolo said:
Why would they?
…
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“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father” John 14:12 RSVCE

And that is what Peter did, because Jesus left.
 
China123 said:
Do you have any proof that subsequent popes did not perform miracles? Soon to be Saint John Paul II comes to my mind as proof on the other side…
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No, but do you have to be a saint, to do this ?
 
It wasn’t just Peter that performed miracles after Jesus’ ascension into heaven;

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12, RSV)

‘And fear came upon every soul; **and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.’ ** (Acts 2:43. RSV).

'Now at Lystra there was a man sitting, who could not use his feet; he was crippled from birth, who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking; and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and walked.’ (Acts 14:8-10, RSV).
 
Peter didn’t exactly do this at his will, but at the will of God to show Himself to the people when the Church was just begining. We don’t have this need for miracles nowadays, as our evangelization is generally effective without them, and would put people like Pope Francis under even more scrutiny than he is right now, and have the possibility of being called a magician, a summoner or dark powers, or a plain phony, which wouldn’t be healthy for the unity of the Church (and don’t fall into the thought that Peter or especially Jesus weren’t put under that scrutiny - and the fact that the occurrence of such miracles to Peter were rare made such pressure not as heavy as it was to Christ, as He was able to handle and counter that social pressure, while Peter wasn’t).

Besides, even though those miracles did happen, they had a metaphorical meaning to them, which had the purpose of influencing the way that we look at God and His stance to the Church, which is usually metaphorically represented by Peter in the Gospels, given that these actions would be taught to all generations of Christians, up until today. Any miracle done by Francis wouldn’t have even an inch of such impact on the way that we look at God, and therefore makes the performance of miracles all the more unnecessary. 👍
 
CalCatholic said:
It wasn’t just Peter that performed miracles after Jesus’ ascension into heaven;

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12, RSV)

‘And fear came upon every soul; **and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.’ ** (Acts 2:43. RSV).

'Now at Lystra there was a man sitting, who could not use his feet; he was crippled from birth, who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking; and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and walked.’ (Acts 14:8-10, RSV).
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ok, why doesn’t the 21st century christians, do what the 1st century christians did ?
 
PNEUMA said:
The first pope Peter, walked on water, cured the sick, raised the dead etc. why didn’t the second and third popes do this, why doesn’t pope Francis do this ?
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An interesting question. I guess the main answer is we just don’t know why Francis hasn’t done these things…yet…😉

Of course we know very little about some of the very early popes - so it is possible that they DID do some of the things you have mentioned above.

One thing about signs and wonders is that they are not things to be done “on demand”. When Jesus was asked to give a sign - he would generally refuse.
Another aspect is that - in several places where healings occurred the matter of the faith of the one being healed is mentioned. It is even mentioned that Jesus could do few miracles / healings in his home town because of their lack of faith.
Something else that might feed into this, and kind of relates to the above, is that the Pope is not very much his own person anymore. By that I mean, he is very busy, his life very structured, and as much as he would like to be more “among the people”, he can’t…
The sort of life he must lead makes these things very difficult.

None of this is really intended to answer your question.
Just some thoughts that came to me and so I am tossing them out for consideration and comment.

Peace
James
 
PNEUMA said:
No, but do you have to be a saint, to do this ?
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I think when people do miraculous things people in modern times bring their cause up for the process of sainthood so that is why we see this. Saint, in Catholic terms, means someone who has entered Heaven so I am sure there are many people that have entered Heaven and are not canonized saints.

I know that I have seen miracles in my life by average people. If hard pressed, can I provide “proof”…no. But it was a miracle just the same and God working through someone to produce that miracle.

To your other comment - "ok, why doesn’t the 21st century christians, do what the 1st century christians did ? "

I think today it would be a side show and, as another poster stated, would turn people away from God and not towards Him. It would be all about the miracle and not about the awesome God that produced that miracle THROUGH someone.
 
Current popes and even priests do these things in their more miraculous form. In the story of the healing of the paralytic, Jesus says to the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. To “show” that he had accomplished this, he said to the man, “rise and walk.” The lesser miracle here is the physical one. Jesus would only need to do this a few times at the beginning to establish the more important teaching of spiritual healing. From then on, when we hear him say that sins were “forgiven,” we would know that a spiritual miracle occurred. We don’t need the visible sign every time anymore.

In the same way, Popes and priests are “walking on water,” changing “water to wine,” and even “raising the dead” in the sacrament of confession with regularity. We have already been given an installment of miracles in the Apostolic age, as well as other miraculous reminders now and then, so that we will retain our belief that the Church continues to perform the most important of miracles with regularity.
 
Hello Pneuma.
PNEUMA said:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father” John 14:12 RSVCE

And that is what Peter did, because Jesus left.
Click to expand...
Do you walk on water? When was the last time you made the blind see or raised the dead?

Now, that we have common ground, he who follows Jesus technically is capable of doing the “works” He did of a miraculous nature, but God may not need that particular person to do those things. He has a use for every person who follows Him. And every time we say “fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum,” like Mary did, we come closer and closer to fulfilling His will in our lives. If he willed me to work miracles, I’d be doing it because I’ve surrendered my will to His. I’ve yet to multiply loaves and fishes yet though. Can you?

Glenda
 
ServantPD said:
Peter didn’t exactly do this at his will, but at the will of God to show Himself to the people when the Church was just begining. We don’t have this need for miracles nowadays, as our evangelization is generally effective without them, and would put people like Pope Francis under even more scrutiny than he is right now, and have the possibility of being called a magician, a summoner or dark powers, or a plain phony, which wouldn’t be healthy for the unity of the Church (and don’t fall into the thought that Peter or especially Jesus weren’t put under that scrutiny - and the fact that the occurrence of such miracles to Peter were rare made such pressure not as heavy as it was to Christ, as He was able to handle and counter that social pressure, while Peter wasn’t).

Besides, even though those miracles did happen, they had a metaphorical meaning to them, which had the purpose of influencing the way that we look at God and His stance to the Church, which is usually metaphorically represented by Peter in the Gospels, given that these actions would be taught to all generations of Christians, up until today. Any miracle done by Francis wouldn’t have even an inch of such impact on the way that we look at God, and therefore makes the performance of miracles all the more unnecessary. 👍
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If we don’t need miracles nowadays ? why do miracles miracles occur within the church ? Doesn’t pope Francis exercises his power to some degree ?
 
PNEUMA said:
If we don’t need miracles nowadays ? why do miracles miracles occur within the church ? Doesn’t pope Francis exercises his power to some degree ?
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Yes he does, it is called love and compassion! This is the miracle that the Church needs to evangelize this broken world. The love and compassion of Jesus through the Gospel. It was a message that was effective in the early Church, and it is effective today!
 
glendab said:
Hello Pneuma.

Do you walk on water? When was the last time you made the blind see or raised the dead?

Now, that we have common ground, he who follows Jesus technically is capable of doing the “works” He did of a miraculous nature, but God may not need that particular person to do those things. He has a use for every person who follows Him. And every time we say “fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum,” like Mary did, we come closer and closer to fulfilling His will in our lives. If he willed me to work miracles, I’d be doing it because I’ve surrendered my will to His. I’ve yet to multiply loaves and fishes yet though. Can you?

Glenda
Click to expand...
Hi Glenda

No, I do not walk on water or multiply loaves and fishes 🙂

I do however believe Jesus when he says,

“He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from hence to yonder place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

and

“And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

and I am trying to figure out how to do this 🙂 I already have some clue, as I think Peter and the first century christians also had.
 
MarcoPolo said:
Current popes and even priests do these things in their more miraculous form. In the story of the healing of the paralytic, Jesus says to the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. To “show” that he had accomplished this, he said to the man, “rise and walk.” The lesser miracle here is the physical one. Jesus would only need to do this a few times at the beginning to establish the more important teaching of spiritual healing. From then on, when we hear him say that sins were “forgiven,” we would know that a spiritual miracle occurred. We don’t need the visible sign every time anymore.

In the same way, Popes and priests are “walking on water,” changing “water to wine,” and even “raising the dead” in the sacrament of confession with regularity. We have already been given an installment of miracles in the Apostolic age, as well as other miraculous reminders now and then, so that we will retain our belief that the Church continues to perform the most important of miracles with regularity.
Click to expand...
Yes, they use the power in spiritual healing, why not use it in physical healing and other things, that the world need ?
 
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CalCatholic:
Yes he does, it is called love and compassion! This is the miracle that the Church needs to evangelize this broken world. The love and compassion of Jesus through the Gospel. It was a message that was effective in the early Church, and it is effective today!

Jesus did cured the sick, raised the dead etc. out of love and compassion, there is no conflict here.
 
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