The Church & Apostolic Authority

Ecclesiology. The papacy and the Petrine office. Apostolic succession. The college of bishops. The magisterium ordinary and extraordinary.

2 articles in this pillar

Apostolic Succession: The Unbroken Chain from the ApostlesThe Catholic Church teaches that her bishops are the successors of the Apostles, that this succession has been unbroken since the first century, and that the validity of the sacraments depends on it.
Papal Primacy from the Fathers: The Pre-Schism WitnessA common Eastern Orthodox and Protestant claim is that papal primacy is a medieval invention — that the early Church knew the bishop of Rome as merely "first among equals" with no jurisdictional authority over the universal Church.