siastical Statutes,' when it declared 'that the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) possessed the Primacy over the whole universe; that he was the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter, and the true Vicegerent of Jesus Christ, the Head of the whole Church, the Father and Teacher of all Christians; and that he, in the person of St. Peter, had received from our Lord Jesus Christ the full power of feeding, guiding, and governing the whole Church.' No General Council was ever held at which the Pope, or his Legates, did not preside; and there never was a decision of the Church universally received before it had been confirmed by the Pope; and whosoever refused to recognize the Pope as the Head of the Church was at all times considered by all the faithful as an apostate.
In the course of time, the Successor of St. Peter gained also, by Divine dispensation, possession of a secular territory of considerable extent, called the Ecclesiastical States, that he might exercise his spiritual power all the more freely, and be dependent, not on any human favor or force, but on God alone.
(See Short History of Revealed Religion, 48.)
18. Was the threefold office, which was common to all the Apostles, to continue at all times?
Yes; according to the appointment of Christ, it was to pass over from the Apostles to their Successors, and to continue in them, without interruption, to the end of the world.
19. How do we know this appointment of Christ?
From the words which He spoke when He conferred the office upon them: 'And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world' (Matt, xxviii. 20); which evidently cannot be understood to have been said to the Apostles alone, since they, of course, were not to live to the end of the world.
20. Who are the Successors of the Apostles?
The Bishops who are rightly consecrated, and are in communion with the Head of the Church, the Pope — i.e., the Bishops of the Catholic Church.
21. Why can no one be a Successor of the Apostles who is not in communion with the Head of the Church?
1. Because he who is separated from the Head cannot
