Chapter 6
Organizing the Church
IN THIS CHAPTER
Chain of command: Every structured environment has one — from governments to corporations to schools to sports programs. The Catholic Church is no exception. This chapter explains who’s who in the Catholic Church and gives you a glimpse into the authority and duties of its various members. Check out Table 6-1 for a quick look at who’s in charge, from highest to lowest (top to bottom) in terms of rank.
TABLE 6-1 The Catholic Church Chain of Command
| Clergy Members’ Titles | What They Do |
|---|---|
| The pope | He’s the bishop of Rome and the head of the whole Church. |
| Cardinals | They elect the pope and work in different departments as his right-hand men. |
| Bishops and archbishops | They take charge of the churches in their respective geographical areas, called dioceses. |
| Vicar generals | They are priests who help the bishop govern the local churches. |
| Parish priests, or pastors | They take care of all the big day-to-day duties in their churches, from leading Mass to hearing confessions. |
| Monks and nuns | They choose to live together, work together, and spend many hours devoted in prayer. |
Getting to Know the Pope
Best known throughout the world and among more than 1 billion Catholics as the pope, the bishop of Rome is the supreme and visible head of the Catholic Church. The word pope is actually an English translation of the Italian il Papa, meaning “father,” which leads you to another title for the pope — Holy Father. Just as a Catholic priest is called “Father” in a spiritual sense, the pope is called “Holy Father” by Catholics all over the world.
He has a slew of other titles, too: Successor of St. Peter, Vicar of Christ, Primate of Italy, Supreme Pontiff, Roman Pontiff, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, and Head of the College of Bishops. The most common and best-known titles, however, are pope, Holy Father, and Roman Pontiff.
Think you’re under pressure at work? The pope has two big jobs: He’s the bishop of Rome (see the later section “Bishops and archbishops” for more about bishops) and the leader of the entire Catholic Church. The pope has a ceremonial role as head of state of the sovereign nation of Vatican City.
How the pope gets his job
The College of Cardinals elects the pope. Nope, that’s not a university where priests and bishops learn how to become cardinals. Unlike Notre Dame and The Catholic University of America, the College of Cardinals merely refers to all the cardinals around the world, just as the College of Bishops is a way of describing all the world’s Catholic bishops.
UH, CARDINAL, SIR? WHAT’S THAT MALLET FOR?
When the pope dies, an ancient but simple ceremony is performed before the cardinals are called to Rome to elect a new pope. The most senior-ranking cardinal enters the room of the dead pontiff and gently strikes his forehead with a silver mallet, calling the pope by his baptismal name. If he doesn’t answer by the third time, he’s pronounced dead.
Today, however, the pope’s personal physician is called in first, and he makes the medical determination that the man is dead before the senior-ranking cardinal performs the ceremonial ritual with the mallet. Then the pope’s ring (the Fisherman’s Ring) and his papal insignia are smashed so that no one can affix the seal on any documents until a new pope has been elected.
The pope handpicks bishops to become cardinals, and their primary function in life is to elect a new pope when the old pope dies or resigns. Because most modern popes live at least ten years in office (except Pope John Paul I, who lived only one month), cardinals do have other work to do instead of just waiting around for the boss to pass on. (For details about cardinals and their jobs, see the later section “Cardinals.”) Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote for the next pope.
The electors can vote for any other cardinal or any Catholic bishop, priest, deacon, or layman, anywhere in the world and of any liturgical rite, such as Latin, Byzantine, and so on. Normally, the cardinals select another cardinal, both because they know each other better and because the number of cardinals to choose from is small compared to the 5,000 bishops around the world and more than 410,000 priests. Although extremely rare, if a layman is elected pope (as in the case of Benedict IX), he first has to be ordained a deacon, then a priest, and then a bishop before he can function as pope, because the authority resides in his office as bishop of Rome. If a priest is chosen, he needs to be ordained a bishop prior to being installed as pope.
Are there pope primaries?
The government of the Catholic Church, called the hierarchy, is more like a monarchy than a democracy. Catholicism is hierarchical in that one person, the pope, is supreme head over the universal Church.
