The Sunday Sermon Archive

"Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

These words are plain; the Apostles were to preach to all nations the divine doctrine taught by Christ so that all men, Jews and Gentiles, might come to the knowledge of truth and salvation. In order to enable the Apostles to discharge the duties of this office, Christ assured them of His permanent assistance, and sent them the Holy Ghost to teach them all truth, and to preserve them from error. Consequently the Apostles had the right and duty everywhere to preach the doctrine of Christ, to condemn errors, and to give a final decision in religious controversies. The Apostles fulfilled this important office with all zeal, and ceased not to preach the gospel to Jews and Gentiles until their death.

The priesthood is given the power of forgiving men their sins and reconciling them with God; the Sacrament of Baptism being the first means of grace, by which men are cleansed from all sin, sanctified, and made children of God and heirs of heaven, the administration thereof is one of the essential duties appertaining to the priestly office, and consequently Christ gave the Apostles authority to administer it when He conferred upon them the power of administering the other sacraments and of offering the Holy Sacrifice. The Apostles exercised the office of the priesthood, for they baptized all that believed in Christ, administered by prayer and the imposition of hands the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders; they offered, by "breaking bread" (Acts 2:46), the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and administered, as Scripture and Tradition inform us, all the means of grace as appointed for the priesthood.

The Apostles were not only to teach, but to insist upon the observance of that which they taught. They were to be spiritual shepherds, and therefore received from Christ the power to rule the faithful, to make laws for them, to punish those who would make themselves guilty of great crimes; in short, to ordain whatever they thought necessary and salutary for their salvation. That they exercised this office is evident from their epistles and from the Acts of the Apostles. They always acted as superiors of the Christian congregations, made laws and ordinances, for instance, at the Council of Jerusalem, when they declared the ceremonial law of the Jews abolished (Acts 15); they also exercised the power of punishing; for example, St. Paul excommunicated sinners at Corinth (I Cor. 5:3-5) This threefold office, which Christ vested in the Apostles, passed from them by their delegated authority to their successors, the bishops of the Catholic Church.

Scripture tells us that the Apostles everywhere appointed bishops, who in their stead were to perform these sacred offices. Thus St. Paul made Titus bishop of Crete, and Timothy bishop of Ephesus, and gave them rules and regulations as to how they should administer their office. He writes thus to Timothy: "Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and doctrine." (II Tim. 4:2) St. Peter exhorts the bishops and priests, "to feed the flock of God, taking care thereof not by constraint, but willingly, according to God." (I Pet. 5:2) These and many other passages prove that the bishops took the place of the Apostles and were appointed and consecrated by them. They were to preach and to exercise vigilance so that error might not creep in; and wherever it should be necessary they were to appoint other bishops and priests: they were to feed the flock and to ordain everything required for the welfare of the Church.

St. Clement of Rome, says: "The Apostles appointed the bishops their successors and ordained, as the rule of succession, that when they died other tried men should receive their office." St. Ignatius, a disciple of the Apostle St. John, in his epistles frequently speaks of the bishops, and calls them the successors of the Apostles, and exhorts the faithful to respect them as our Lord Himself, because they are His representatives. St. Irenæus emphatically says that the bishops are the successors of the Apostles: "The bishops and their successors in the Church down to our day have been appointed by the Apostles." By these bishops, however, only those are to be understood who are in union with a true pope, for Christ gave Peter to the Church for her head, and although He also made the other Apostles pastors, it was His will that they should be subordinate to Peter, the chief Pastor. Now what applies to the Apostles, applies to their successors, the bishops; they must acknowledge the pope as their head and remain always united with him. If a bishop be not confirmed by the pope, or if a bishop separate himself from the Pope and refuse him obedience, the faithful under his charge can not acknowledge him as their lawful bishop, nor can they obey him.

Consequently a false pope cannot be acknowledged or obeyed and likewise all those "bishops" confirmed and united with such a false pope cannot be acknowledged or obeyed.

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