The Pope as the source of unity of the Church



THE POPE AS THE SOURCE OF UNITY OF THE CHURCH

Mario D’Couto

            The Catholic Church has always been looked upon as one of the most organized system in the world and what is it that has sustained its unity? It is Christ Himself! It is Christ our Lord who has held the Church together and it is through His successors that this has been carried on. With a few exceptions to some of the Popes who have not been paradigms of virtue, most of them have led saintly lives. Yet, that does not taint the image of the Church for it is not a human invention but is the work of God Almighty.

            God has always used human intervention to accomplish His purpose. Now if such can be the case, it is not surprising to see that God can choose someone to lead His Church. The Pope or the Holy Father, in a sense, is also the source of unity as he represents Christ. It is from this point that serves as the base for our understanding of the infallibility of the Pope. But before we could go into understanding what does the infallibility of the Pope imply, we need to look at what is infallibility, in a general sense. The word ‘infallibility’ refers to bring without error. Now does that mean that the Pope is God? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! The Pope is only a representative of Christ and hence the Pope is as human as any of us. However, in matters of faith and doctrine, the Pope is infallible. This is because he is the vicar of Christ.

            The Pope, as noted earlier, is also the source of unity and that is to say that it is because of his presence that the Church has never broken away or crumpled. Imagine if there was no Pope, who would guide the Church? If there was no Pope, what would have been the condition of the people? In other words, it’s like asking, what would be the condition of the traffic, if there were no traffic signals? It is because of the fact that there is indeed an authoritative figure in the Church, that the interpretation of scripture has not become arbitrary (at least in the Catholic Church. Besides the word ‘Catholic’ means universal). Why do you think among our separated brethren there are so many divisions that exist?

            All in all, we should thank our good Lord for blessing us with people to guide us in whom we are called to follow all His mandates.   


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