Roman Catholic Church Hierarchy

The Catholic clergy is organized in a strict, sometimes overlapping hierarchy:

Pope: Head of the church, he is based at the Vatican. The pope is infallible in defining matters of
faith and morals.
Cardinal: Appointed by the pope, 178 cardinals worldwide, including 13 in the U.S., make up
the College of Cardinals. As a body, it advises the pope and, on his death, elects a new pope.
Archbishop: An archbishop is a bishop of a main or metropolitan diocese, also called an
archdiocese. A cardinal can concurrently hold the title. The U.S. has 45 archbishops.
Bishop: A bishop, like a priest, is ordained to this station. He is a teacher of church doctrine, a
priest of sacred worship, and a minister of church government. The U.S. has 290 active bishops,
194 head dioceses.
Priest: An ordained minister who can administer most of the sacraments, including the
Eucharist, baptism, and marriage. He can be with a particular religious order or committed to
serving a congregation.
Deacon: A transitional deacon is a seminarian studying for the priesthood. A permanent deacon
can be married and assists a priest by performing some of the sacraments.

 MORE
Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation in February, citing his deteriorating
mental and physical health
Credit: Jeffrey Bruno | Shutterstock.com
Updated March 13 at 4:02 p.m. ET.

The Catholic church has a new pope: Francis I. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year-old will
take the helm of the church less than a month after Pope Benedict XVI's retirement. It's unclear
so far how Francis I will lead, but one thing is for sure: The new pontiff will have a grueling
schedule.

The recently retired Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, John Paul II, both worked days that
could stretch from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. or even midnight, said Don Briel, the director of the
Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency can be confusing. Here's a summary of the basics of digital currency
and the technology behind it.
Volume 0%

"The papacy has assumed a much more visible, prominent role and has become, as a result, much
more exhausting in terms of its obligations," Briel told Live Science. [Holy Dream Team? The
Most Notorious Catholic Saints]
A pope's duties
The broad job description for the role of pope is the head of the Catholic Church and the Bishop
of Rome. The pope is also the head of the sovereign city-state, Vatican City.

What this means on a daily basis is that the pope, in this case Pope Francis I, has duties both
political and religious. The pope meets with heads of state and maintains diplomatic relationships
with more than 100 nations. He conducts liturgies, appoints new bishops and travels.

He doesn't, however, work like a corporate CEO, dipping into the local and daily workings of
regional parishes, Briel said.

"He's looking at a very broad overview of the universal church, the church as a whole," he said.
[Saint or Slacker? Test Your Religious Knowledge]

A typical day starts early, with a private mass attended by household staff, Briel said. After
breakfast, the morning might be spent writing epistles, or formal communications, as well as
other works of religious scholarship. Much of the rest of the day is likely to be spent in meetings
with bishops and political leaders from around the world.

The pope also ministers directly to the faithful, greeting pilgrims at General Audiences, which
usually attract between several thousand and tens of thousands of people. Briel attended
Benedict's last General Audience in Rome in February, which drew 200,000, he said.

Around important holidays, such as Easter, the pope delivers major liturgies in St. Peter's
Cathedral or elsewhere in Rome. He also travels around the world, conducting masses for
audiences that fill football stadiums.
Between popes

These nonstop duties are relatively new, Briel said. Before Pope Paul VI, who held office from
1963 to 1978, popes rarely traveled and had fewer political duties. As the church has become
more of a diplomatic force, the role has become more demanding to meet the extra
responsibilities.

When the papacy is vacant, however, all these activities come to a stop. All of the curial offices
remain in suspension, Briel said. So no major decisions were made, and no new bishops were
appointed during the conclave.

"The cardinals as a congregation have a general responsibility to make routine decisions, but
nothing fundamentally of an extraordinary nature, so it's simply in a state of pause," Briel said
before Francis I's election.

Apostolic succession, in Christian theology, the doctrine asserting

that the chosen successors of the apostles enjoyed through God's
grace the same authority, power, and responsibility as was
conferred upon the apostles by Jesus. Therefore present-day
bishops, as the successors of previous bishops, going back to the
apostles, have this power by virtue of this unbroken chain. For the
Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches, this link with the
apostles is what guarantees for them their authority in matters of
faith, morals, and the valid administration of sacraments. Essential
to maintaining the apostolic succession is the right consecration of
bishops. Apostolic succession is to be distinguished from the
Petrine supremacy (see papacy). Protestants (other than Anglican)
see the authority given to the apostles as unique, proper to them
alone, and hence reject any doctrine of a succession of their power.
The Protestant view of ecclesiastical authority differs accordingly.
See orders, holy; church.

Teen Book Publishers - Find The Right Publisher

We Help You Find the Right Publisher For You & Your Book. Simple 3 Step Process!

findyourpublisher.com | Sponsored▼
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
 MLA
 Chicago

APA
"apostolic succession." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Encyclopedia.com. 12 Jul.
2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Learn more about citation styles




Apostolic Succession
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford
University Press 1997.

Apostolic Succession. A belief in Christianity that the authority of

the ordained ministry, in word and sacrament, is protected by the
continuous transmission of that authority through successive
ordinations by those who were themselves validly ordained.
They also serve as offering collectors and other Church duties during worship
services. Deacons are required to be married people of strong faith and good example. There is
also a head deacon, who leads the congregation in prayer before the sermon and the prayer for
voluntary offerings.

A cardinal (Latin: Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman
Church') is a senior ecclesiastical leader, considered a Prince of the Church, and usually an
ordained bishop of the Catholic Church. The cardinals of the Church are collectively known as
the College of Cardinals. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College
and making themselves available individually or in groups to the pope as requested. Most have
additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or managing a department of the Roman
Curia. A cardinal's primary duty is electing the pope when the see becomes vacant. During the sede
vacante(the period between a pope's death or resignation and the election of his successor), the
day-to-day governance of the Holy See is in the hands of the College of Cardinals. The right to enter
the conclave of cardinals where the pope is elected is limited to those who have not reached the age
of 80 years by the day the vacancy occurs.
In 1059, the right of electing the pope was reserved to the principal clergy of Rome and the bishops
of the seven suburbicarian sees. In the 12th century the practice of appointing ecclesiastics from
outside Rome as cardinals began, with each of them assigned a church in Rome as his titular
church or linked with one of the suburbicarian dioceses, while still being incardinated in a diocese
other than that of Rome.[citation needed]
The term cardinal at one time applied to any priest permanently assigned or incardinated to a
church,[1] or specifically to the senior priest of an important church, based on the Latin cardo (hinge),
meaning "pivotal" as in "principal" or "chief". The term was applied in this sense as early as the ninth
century to the priests of the tituli (parishes) of the diocese of Rome.[1]

In the Catholic Church, a parish priest (also known as a pastor) is a priest

appointed by the bishop to represent him to the local parish, which is a collection
of neighborhoods in one small region of a county within a given state. A given
city may support a number of parishes, depending on the Catholic population.

The pastor is helped by a parochial vicar (formerly known as a curate or

an assistant pastor) and/or a permanent deacon, religious sister, or lay
parishioners — all known as pastoral associates. The parish council and finance
committee, which are made up of lay parishioners for the most part, advise and
counsel the pastor but don’t have administrative or executive authority.