The Papacy: What the Pope Does and Why It Matters

The Papacy explains that without the Pope's divinely guided leadership, the Church would suffer the contradictions and the divisions that many Christian groups know firsthand. The teaching passed down from the apostles would be subject to arbitrary, relative, and numerous interpretations; holiness would be only a distant ideal; and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus would break apart.

In describing the Pope's important and singular role as leader and teacher, the ...