Giáo Hoàng và Hiệp Nhất Kitô Giáo
The Pope
As Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Pope governs the Catholic Church as its supreme head. The Pope, as Bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor and shepherd of the whole Church. We believe that the Pope is the successor of Peter, and his bishops are successors of the Twelve Apostles.
It is clear throughout that it is a question of the bishops acting in conjunction with their head, never of the bishops acting independently of the Pope. In the latter instance, without the action of the head, the bishops are not able to act as a College: this is clear from the concept of "College." This hierarchical communion of all the bishops with the Supreme Pontiff is certainly firmly established in Tradition. (Lumen Gentium, Note of Explanation)
Trong Công vụ Tông đồ, chúng ta biết Phêrô là người đứng đầu Giáo hội sơ khai. Khi Phi-e-rơ được trao “chìa khóa nước thiên đàng”, Đấng Christ đang thiết lập chức vụ lãnh đạo thiêng liêng trên hội thánh. Sự tồn tại lâu dài của chức vụ Giáo hoàng là điều thiết yếu đối với bản chất trường tồn của giáo hội.
"The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful – who confirms his brethren in the faith – he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals…The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself. (CCC 891)
Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a "definitive manner," they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful "are to adhere to it with religious assent" which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it. (CCC 892)
Hiệp nhất Kitô giáo
Sự hiệp nhất là điều cần thiết cho những người theo Chúa Giêsu. Phúc âm Thánh Gioan nhắc nhở chúng ta: “Con đã ban cho họ vinh quang mà Cha đã ban cho Con, để họ nên một cũng như Chúng Ta là một; Con ở trong họ và Cha ở trong Con, để họ được hiệp nhất hoàn hảo, để thế gian biết rằng Cha đã sai Con và yêu thương họ cũng như Cha đã yêu Con.” (Giăng 17:253-839-2320
The Catholic Church is united under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Historical breaks and schisms have left us fractured, with the Eastern Orthodox churches no longer in full unity with Roman Catholicism. Beginning with John XXIII and continuing through the papacy of John Paul II and our current pope, the movement to come together in full Christian unity has been underway.
