It is common knowledge that the Pope's Official Titles are ... Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.
The basic meaning of a "Vicar", according to my dictionary is, "A person who acts in place of another. A person who is authorized to perform the functions of another." In the Pope's case, according to the title, he is vicar of Jesus Christ. I think I'll just keep Jesus. The Pope scares me with his "God can't do everything" and "Cremated ashes must not be scattered" where God can't find them, comments.
"Successor of the Prince of the Apostles" presumes that Simon Peter was, somehow, the first Pope, though the Bible never says Peter was a "Prince" or puts him in Rome, or gives him all those high sounding titles. Jesus built His church upon the confession of faith Peter gave in answer to the question, "...Whom say ye that I am?" To which Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter was not the subject of their conversation, but the answer to Christ's question as to who they believed He was. It was that confession of faith in Christ upon which He built His church, not upon Peter, as the Pope believes, but upon the Himself and the confession of faith in Him that Peter gave in Matt.16:15-18. The "Rock" in these verses is translated from the Greek word for foundational stone. Peter's name is translated from a word meaning a small, hand-sized stone. Christ's church is not built upon Peter but upon Christ.
As for "Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church", neither Jesus nor Peter ever spoke of themselves in such extravagant, superfluous terms, though Jesus could have and still be understating the fact. He was God in human flesh ... the Pope is flesh and no more or less than any other man. It is faith in Christ which makes all the eternal difference in people.
It is almost funny when you see the Pope all decorated, preened and bedecked in his royal robes, gold trinkets, and crown .... carried about in his golden, wheel-less carriage by his devotees through his peasant subjects. And then hear that he once found it necessary, as the Supreme Leader of all the Jesuit Order of Argentina, to seek advice from a secular, lady psychoanalyst for six months. Now he is running the entire Catholic world. Kinda dims the glitter doesn't it and exposes him as flesh. Momma used to "clarify" rancid butter in a pan on her old cook stove. I wonder how this lady "clarified a few things" for Pope Francis.... for six months.
Pope Francis reveals for the first time that he consulted a psychoanalyst to "clarify" a few things
By Nick Squires, in Rome
1 SEPTEMBER 2017
Pope Francis has revealed, for the first time, that he sought help from a psychoanalyst when he was younger.
He is believed to be the first Pope in history to have visited a psychoanalyst – or at least to have admitted to it.
In a new book, he says that at the age of 42 – decades before he was made Pope - he went to a psychiatrist in Buenos Aires in his native Argentina for six months.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as the Pope was known then, was at the time the head of the Jesuit order in Argentina.
“At a certain point, I felt the need to consult an analyst. For six months, I went to her house once a week to clarify a few things,” he revealed in the book, Pope Francis: Politics and Society.
He did not specify exactly what “things” he wanted to clarify or why he felt the need to seek psychiatric help but he did say the treatment was successful.
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