We do not believe that Popes are always wise or holy, though happily they may be. We do not think that everything a Pope says or does is divinely inspired. Popes are not coterminous with the Church; they are "of" and "for" the Church, not above her. When asked to take some decision, St. John XXIII famously replied, "I am not Jesus Christ, I am only the Pope." Yes, every Pope is "only the Pope." But he has a mission as servant of the servants of God.
However frail and limited, Peter was chosen and graced by Christ to be the first of the apostles. He was the first to profess faith in Jesus. He was named the rock and holds the keys. He was told to confirm his brothers, i.e. his fellow-disciples, and to feed the sheep of Christ's flock. He was the first of the apostles to whom the risen Christ appeared, he gave the first homily in the history of the Church on Pentecost, he worked the first apostolic miracle, healing the lame man outside the temple, he was the first to open the Church to non-Jews and so turn its universality from potential to reality. He remains the first and greatest example of a weak but rescued follower of Christ.
Some of this "Petrine" reality belongs simply to the beginnings of the Church, but the core of it lives on in the lawful successors of Peter, the bishops of Rome, of whom our current Holy Father Leo XIV 267th. The charge of the Pope is to "preside in charity" (St Ignatius of Antioch), to "lead the choir" of believers (St John Chrysostom). He is the principal teacher in, and chief pastor of, the Church. When he teaches or guides or legislates authoritatively, he is to be heeded. Thus the papal ministry serves the unity of the Church; the unity of the Church enables her mission; and her mission serves the incorporation of all into the Body of Christ which is our salvation.
Some of this can see remote to our daily occupations. But on another level, this gift of Christâthe Petrine ministry alive in the Popeâis vital to our faith. It is not by chance that every Catholic Mass throughout the world names the current Pope. It is a sign that every diocese, parish, or community is not just a gathering of "chums," but part of something wider and greater. The Papacy saves us from a Christianity in our own image, a Christianity merely reflecting our own pet ideas or current cultural "take" on things. The Papacy connects our "here" to everywhere the Gospel has taken root and will, and our "now" with the lasting will of Christ for his Church. The Papacy keeps all of usâlaity, religious, deacons, priests, and bishopsâfrom turning in on ourselves. It preserves us from thinking that we define the faith and "own" the Holy Spirit, and that the Church is simply ours to shape rather than first of all a saving "space" opened for us by the living Christ. With the Papacy we are spared the fate of becoming a merely national Church or sect, or followers of some self-appointed authority. We are kept open to the fulness of the faith and the full breadth of the call to charity. With Peter the mission flourishes, without him it withers. And to refuse communion with him is spiritual suicide.
Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., Bishop of Aberdeen (Pastoral Letter, issued on the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026). Bolded emphases added, original single paragraph broken up to avoid wall of text.
Saint Peter Enthroned, with Saints, by Cima de Conegliano, 1516.
