Why Catholics Believe the Pope Has Authority
Let’s say you agree that Jesus made Peter the leader of the Apostles.
Fine.
But Peter died almost two thousand years ago.
Why should a man in Rome today have any authority over Christians?
It is a fair question.
The answer is that Jesus did not just give Peter a role. He gave him an office.
Wait… Why Would Peter’s Role Pass to Someone Else?
A lot of Christians think:
“Peter was special, but his role ended with him. The Bible never says Peter would have successors. The bishop of Rome just grabbed power later.”
And at first that sounds reasonable.
The New Testament does not have a verse that says, “And the bishop of Rome shall succeed Peter.”
But then you start reading a few passages and you have to stop for a second.
Because the Bible shows that offices continue after the person who holds them is gone.
And the first Christians acted like Rome had a special role from the start.
Offices Outlive Officeholders
When Jesus gave Peter the keys (Matthew 16:19), He was echoing Isaias 22.
There, God takes the keys of the house of David from one royal steward, Sobna, and gives them to the next, Eliacim:
“And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.”
— Isaias 22:22
Wait.
The keys did not disappear when a steward left.
They passed to a successor.
That is what an office is.
The President of the United States changes every few years.
The office does not.
A key is not a trophy. It is a job that gets handed on.
(More on this in What the Keys of the Kingdom Mean.)
Jesus Built Something Meant to Last
Listen to how Jesus describes the Church He is building on Peter:
“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18
Not for one generation.
Ever.
And at the Last Supper, Jesus does not only pray for the men in the room:
“And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me.”
— John 17:20
Jesus was thinking about Christians who would not be born for centuries.
So here is the question.
If the Church is meant to last until the end of the world, does its foundation only last thirty years?
Even Judas Had a Successor
Right after the Ascension, the Apostles do something interesting.
Judas is dead.
So Peter stands up and quotes the Psalms:
“And his bishopric let another take.”
— Acts 1:20
Then they choose Matthias:
“To take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas hath by transgression fallen.”
— Acts 1:25
Wait a second.
If even Judas’s office was filled by a successor, why would Peter’s office simply vanish?
The very first thing the Church did after the Ascension was fill an empty office.
Peter Settles the First Big Fight
Around A.D. 49, the young Church has its first major argument.
Do Gentile converts have to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses?
The Apostles and elders meet in Jerusalem.
There is “much disputing” (Acts 15:7).
Then Peter stands up and speaks.
And when he finishes:
“And all the multitude held their peace.”
— Acts 15:12
James, the bishop of Jerusalem, speaks next and agrees with Peter.
The council sends out its decision with a striking line: “It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us” (Acts 15:28).
So in the first council of the Church, we already see the pattern.
The Apostles gather.
Peter speaks first.
The argument ends.
Rome Acts Like It Has Authority. Early.
This is where a lot of people have a “wait a second” moment.
Around A.D. 96, the church in Corinth was in turmoil. Some young troublemakers had kicked out their leaders.
Who stepped in?
Not the church in nearby Ephesus, where the Apostle John was likely still alive.
The church of Rome.
St. Clement, bishop of Rome, wrote a long letter telling the Corinthians to restore their leaders, and warned them that disobeying would put them in serious danger.
And the Corinthians listened.
Around A.D. 170, the bishop of Corinth, Dionysius, wrote to Rome that they were still reading Clement’s letter aloud in church on Sundays.
Seventy years later.
Want a simple way to start praying with the whole Church? Get our free printable Rosary guide.
“Presiding in Love”
Around A.D. 107, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote letters to several churches on his way to martyrdom.
To most of them, he gave instructions.
But his letter to Rome is different.
He greets the church of Rome as the one that “presides” in love, and he gives them no commands at all.
Here is a bishop from Syria, about to die for Christ, writing to a church a thousand miles away.
And he writes to Rome like you write to someone above you.
“Every Church Must Agree With This Church”
Around A.D. 180, St. Irenaeus of Lyons was fighting heresies that claimed to have secret teachings from Jesus.
His answer was simple.
You do not need secret teachings.
Look at what the Apostles handed down in the churches they founded.
And then he points to one church in particular.
He writes that every church should agree with the church of Rome because of its preeminent authority, since it was founded by Peter and Paul.
Then he lists the bishops of Rome, one after another, from Peter to his own day.
For Irenaeus, Rome was not one opinion among many. It was the test.
“The Chair of Peter”
Around A.D. 252, St. Cyprian of Carthage, in North Africa, called the church of Rome “the chair of Peter,” the principal church where the unity of the bishops began.
Around A.D. 376, St. Jerome was living in the desert in Syria while Christians there fought over which bishop to follow.
So he wrote to Pope Damasus in Rome.
He told Damasus that he was joined in communion with “the chair of Peter,” and that he knew the Church was built on that rock.
Wait.
Jerome lived about as far from Rome as you could get in the Christian world.
And he still knew where to look.
When a Bishop Was Driven Out, He Went to Rome
St. Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, spent his life defending the truth that Jesus is fully God.
In A.D. 335, his enemies had him condemned and removed.
Where did he go?
Rome.
Around A.D. 341, Pope Julius I examined his case and cleared him.
Then Julius wrote to the bishops who had condemned Athanasius and asked why they had not written to Rome first, as the custom was.
Athanasius was Greek.
Alexandria was the second-greatest city in the Empire.
And the court he appealed to was in Rome.
“Peter Has Spoken Through Leo”
In A.D. 451, about 500 bishops met at the Council of Chalcedon to settle a fight about who Jesus is.
Pope Leo the Great could not be there.
So he sent a letter.
When it was read aloud, the bishops reportedly cried out:
“Peter has spoken through Leo!”
Four hundred years after Peter died, the bishops of the East still heard Peter’s voice in the bishop of Rome.
(Read more about St. Leo the Great.)
What the Pope’s Authority Is
The Catechism says the pope, as successor of Peter, is “the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful” (CCC 882).
He has full and supreme authority to teach, govern, and shepherd the universal Church (CCC 882; First Vatican Council, 1870).
That sounds like a lot of power.
And it is.
But here is the important part.
What the Pope’s Authority Is Not
The pope cannot make up new doctrines.
He cannot change the Gospel.
He cannot declare that the Ten Commandments are now Nine Suggestions.
The Second Vatican Council taught that the Church’s teaching office “is not above the word of God, but serves it” (Dei Verbum 10; CCC 86).
The pope’s job is to guard what Jesus handed down, not to invent something new.
He is not infallible in everything he says. That gift covers only very specific, solemn teaching on faith and morals. (See What Papal Infallibility Actually Means.)
Pope St. Gregory the Great, in the 590s, called himself “the servant of the servants of God.”
Popes still use that title today.
The pope is the chief shepherd. But a shepherd works for the Owner of the sheep.
“But There Have Been Bad Popes”
Yes.
There have.
The Church has never claimed that every pope was holy.
Some were worldly. A few were scandalous.
But look at what Jesus said about the religious leaders of His own day:
“The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not.”
— Matthew 23:2–3
Wait.
Jesus did not tell people to ignore the chair because the men in it were hypocrites.
He told them to respect the office and not copy the sins.
Even Peter needed correcting. St. Paul writes:
“But when Cephas was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”
— Galatians 2:11
Peter’s behavior was wrong. His office was not cancelled.
The office does not depend on the man being perfect. It depends on Christ being faithful.
“Wasn’t the Papacy Invented After Constantine?”
You will hear this one a lot.
“The bishop of Rome only became powerful after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal.”
Let’s check the dates.
A.D. 96: Clement of Rome corrects the church in Corinth.
A.D. 107: Ignatius writes that the church of Rome “presides” in love.
A.D. 170: Corinth is still reading Clement’s letter in church.
A.D. 180: Irenaeus says every church must agree with Rome.
A.D. 252: Cyprian calls Rome “the chair of Peter.”
A.D. 313: Constantine legalizes Christianity.
Wait a second.
Every one of those witnesses comes before Constantine.
And most of them wrote while being a Christian could still get you killed.
Nobody claims authority in a persecuted Church to get rich. Rome led before it was safe to lead.
Why Jesus Would Want This
Look at Christianity today.
Thousands of groups, all reading the same Bible, disagreeing about baptism, communion, salvation, marriage, and morality.
Who decides?
Jesus prayed:
“That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
— John 17:21
A family needs a father.
A team needs a captain.
A flock needs a shepherd.
You may see these passages differently.
But you at least have to admit: Jesus wanted His followers to be visibly one, so the world would believe.
The papacy is Jesus’ gift so His Church would have a visible center of unity until He returns.
Where Is Peter’s Office Today?
In May 2025, the cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel and elected a new bishop of Rome.
He took the name Leo XIV.
The same name as the pope whose letter made the bishops at Chalcedon cry out, “Peter has spoken.”
The man changes.
The chair does not.
(For how the bishops carry on the Apostles’ work alongside him, see What Apostolic Succession Means.)
So What Is the Catholic Claim?
Here it is in simple terms.
Jesus gave Peter the keys, which in Scripture belong to an office that passes to successors.
He built His Church on Peter and promised it would last.
The Apostles filled even Judas’s office after his death.
Peter settled the first council of the Church.
By A.D. 96, the bishop of Rome was correcting another church, and they obeyed.
Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Jerome, and Athanasius all looked to Rome as the church of Peter.
All of this, long before Constantine.
The pope, as Peter’s successor, serves as the visible center of unity, guarding the faith rather than changing it.
So the real question is not:
“Why should a man in Rome have authority?”
The better question is:
“If Jesus built His Church on Peter and promised it would last, where is Peter’s office today?”
The first Christians knew where to look.
Keep reading: Why Catholics Believe Peter Was the First Pope, What Papal Infallibility Actually Means, or browse more questions in Catholicism Explained.
If this helped you, consider supporting Christian Catholic Media so we can keep creating content.
Catholic Sources
Scripture (Douay-Rheims): Isaias 22:15–22; Matthew 16:18–19; Matthew 23:2–3; Luke 22:31–32; John 17:20–21; John 21:15–17; Acts 1:15–26; Acts 15:1–29; Galatians 2:11.
Catechism of the Catholic Church: CCC 85–86 (the Magisterium serves the Word of God); CCC 880–882 (the pope and the bishops); CCC 891 (infallibility).
Early Christian writers and councils:
- St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 59 (c. A.D. 96)
- St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, prologue (c. A.D. 107)
- St. Dionysius of Corinth, Letter to Pope Soter, quoted by Eusebius, Church History 4.23 (c. A.D. 170)
- St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.3.2–3 (c. A.D. 180)
- St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 59 (c. A.D. 252)
- St. Jerome, Letter 15, to Pope Damasus (c. A.D. 376)
- Pope St. Julius I, Letter to the Eusebians, in St. Athanasius, Defense Against the Arians (c. A.D. 341)
- Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451)
- First Vatican Council, Pastor Aeternus (A.D. 1870)
- Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 10 (A.D. 1965)
