The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons.Catechism of the Catholic Church, 873 "If any one saith, that, in the Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy by divine ordination instituted, consisting of bishops, priests, and ministers; let him be anathema" (Council of Trent, session XXIII, canon VI on the sacrament of Order). In the ecclesiological sense of the term, hierarchy strictly means the "holy ordering" of the church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gifts and ministries necessary for genuine unity.
In canonical and general usage, it refers to those who exercise authority within a Christian church. In the Catholic Church, authority rests chiefly with bishops, while priests and deacons serve as their assistants, co-workers or helpers. Accordingly, "hierarchy of the Catholic Church" is also used to refer to the bishops alone. The term "pope" was still used loosely until the sixth century, being at times assumed by other bishops. The term "hierarchy" became popular only in the sixth century, due to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius.
As of 31 December 2020, the Catholic Church consisted of 2,903 dioceses or equivalent jurisdictions,Vatican, Annuario Pontificio 2021, p. 1103. each overseen by a bishop. Dioceses are divided into individual communities called parishes, each staffed by one or more priests, deacons, or lay ecclesial ministers.Barry, p. 52 Ordinarily, care of a parish is entrusted to a priest, though there are exceptions. Approximately 19.3% of all parishes do not have a resident pastor, and 1,948 parishes worldwide are entrusted to a deacon or lay ecclesial minister.
All clergy, including deacons, priests, and bishops, may preach, teach, baptize, witness marriages, and conduct funeral liturgies. Only priests and bishops can celebrate the sacraments of the Eucharist (though others may be ministers of Holy Communion),"The minister who is able to confect the sacrament of the Eucharist in the person of Christ is a validly ordained priest alone" (__P38.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 900 §1). While in the English language, the word "priest" usually means someone received into the second of the three holy orders (also called the presbyterate) but not into the highest, that of bishop, the Latin text underlying this statement uses the Latin term sacerdos, which comprises both bishops and, in the common English sense, priests. To refer exclusively to priests in the more common English sense, Latin uses the word presbyter. See Dennis Chester Smolarski, The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 1969–2002: A Commentary (Liturgical Press 2003 ), p. 24. Penance (Reconciliation, Confession), Confirmation (priests may administer this sacrament with prior ecclesiastical approval), and Anointing of the Sick.Canon 42 Catholic Church Canon Law. Retrieved 9 March 2008.Canon 375 , Catholic Law. Retrieved 9 March 2008. Only bishops can administer the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which men are ordained as bishops, priests or deacons.Barry, p. 114.
History The existence of a Roman Catholic hierarchy (made of bishops, priests, and deacons) is attested since the time of the first Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians.Quote: "...especially if [men] are in unity with the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons, who have been appointed according to the mind of Jesus Christ, whom He has established in security, after His own will, and by His Holy Spirit.[...] Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth ] the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants: that so, whatsoever you do, you may do it according to [the will of] God". See Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians, Ch. 1 and 4.
Episcopate
The bishops, who possess the fullness of orders, and therefore the fullness of both priesthood and diaconate, are as a body (the College of Bishops) considered the successors of the ApostlesRoman Catholicism (at "Structure of the Church: The College of Bishops"). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2012. and are "constituted Pastors in the Church, to be the teachers of doctrine, the priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance" and "represent the Church."Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of Theologian, 19 Member of the Episcopal College by virtue of his sacramental ordination and hierarchical communion, the bishop represents his Church just as all the bishops, in union with the Pope, represent the Church universal in the bonds of peace, love, unity, and truth. In 2012, there were 5,133 Catholic bishops;Carol Glatz, Vatican statistics: Church growth remains steady worldwide, Catholic Herald (5 May 2014). at the end of 2021, there were 5,340 Catholic bishops. The Pope himself is a bishop (the bishop of Rome) and traditionally uses the title "Venerable Brother" when writing formally to another bishop.
The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a diocese. Bishops who fulfill this function are known as diocesan ordinaries, because they have what canon law calls ordinary (i.e. not delegated) authority for a diocese. These bishops may be known as hierarchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches. Other bishops may be appointed to assist ordinaries (auxiliary bishops and coadjutor bishops) or to carry out a function in a broader field of service to the church, such as appointments as papal nuncios or as officials in the Roman Curia.
Bishops of a country or region may form an episcopal conference and meet periodically to discuss current problems. Decisions in certain fields, notably liturgy, fall within the exclusive competence of these conferences. The decisions of the conferences are binding on the individual bishops only if agreed to by at least two-thirds of the membership and confirmed by the Holy See.
Bishops are normally ordained to the episcopate by at least three other bishops, though for validity only one is needed and a mandatum from the Holy See is required. Ordination to the episcopate is considered the completion of the sacrament of Holy Orders; even when a bishop retires from his active service, he remains a bishop, since the ontological effect of Holy Orders is permanent. On the other hand, titles such as archbishop or patriarch imply no ontological alteration, and existing bishops who rise to those offices do not require further ordination.
Sacramentally, all bishops are equal. According to jurisdiction, office, and privileges, however, various ranks are distinguished, as indicated below. All bishops are "vicars of Christ".
Pope (Bishop of Rome)
The pope is the bishop of Rome. He is also, by virtue of that office:
Offices and titles "Pope" is a pronominal honorific, not an office or a title, meaning "Father" (the common honorific for all clergy). The honorific "pope" was from the early 3rd century used for any bishop in the West, and is known in Greek as far back as Homer's Odyssey (6:57). In the East, "pope" is still a common form of address for clergy in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, and is the style of the bishop of Alexandria. Pope Marcellinus (died 304) is the first Bishop of Rome shown in sources to have had the title "pope" used of him. From the 6th century, the imperial chancery of Constantinople normally reserved this designation for the Bishop of Rome. From the early 6th century, it began to be confined in the West to the Bishop of Rome, a practice that was firmly in place by the 11th century, when Pope Gregory VII declared it reserved for the Bishop of Rome.
As bishop of the Church of Rome, he is successor to the co-patrons of that local church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.Roman Catholicism (at "Structure of the Church: Apostolic Succession"). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2012. As such, the Church of Rome, and its bishop, has always had a prominence in the Catholic communion and at least to some degree primacy among his peers, the other bishops, as Peter had a certain primacy among his peers, the other apostles. The exact nature of that primacy is one of the most significant ecumenical issues of the age, and has developed as a doctrine throughout the entire history of the Catholic Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council's document , states: "The pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, 'is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.'" Communion with the bishop of Rome has become such a significant identifier of Catholic identity that at times the Catholic Church has been known in its entirety as "Roman Catholic," though this is inaccurate in Catholic theology (ecclesiology).
Three other of the pope's offices stem directly from his office as bishop of the Church of Rome. As the Latin Church owes its identity and development to its origins in the liturgical, juridical, and theological patrimony of Rome, the bishop of Rome is de facto the patriarch of the Latin Church. According to Pope Benedict XVI, there has been much 'confusion' between the pope's primacy as patriarch of the western church and his primacy as first patriarch among equals, that this "failure to distinguish" between the roles and responsibilities of these two distinct positions leads in time to the "extreme centralization of the Catholic Church" and the schism between East and West.
As the first local Church of Italy, the bishop of Rome is the Primate of Italy and is empowered to appoint the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference.
The Church of Rome is also the principal church of the Province of Rome, so the bishop of Rome is Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province.
As a bishop, the pope is referred to as a Vicar of Christ. This title was common to all bishops from the fourth through twelfth centuries, reserved to the bishop of Rome from the twelfth through early twentieth centuries, and restored to all bishops at the Second Vatican Council.
The pope resides in Vatican City, an independent state within the city of Rome, set up by the 1929 Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and Italy. As popes were sovereigns of the papal states (754–1870), so do they exercise absolute civil authority in the microstate of Vatican City since 1929.
Ambassadors are accredited not to the Vatican City State but to the Holy See, which was subject to international law even before the state was instituted. The body of officials that assist the Pope in governance of the church as a whole is known as the Roman curia. The term "Holy See" (i.e. of Rome) is generally used only of the Pope and the curia, because the Code of Canon Law, which concerns governance of the Latin Church as a whole and not internal affairs of the see (diocese) of Rome itself, necessarily uses the term in this technical sense.
Finally, the title "Servant of the servants of God" was an addition of Pope Gregory the Great, a reminder that in Christianity, leadership is always about service/ministry (diakonia).
The style of address for the bishop of Rome is "His Holiness".
Election
The present rules governing the election of a pope are found in the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis. This deals with the powers, from the death of a pope to the announcement of his successor's election, of the cardinals and the departments of the Roman curia; with the funeral arrangements for the dead pope; and with the place, time and manner of voting of the meeting of the cardinal electors, a meeting known as a conclave. This word is derived from Latin com- (together) and clavis (key) and refers to the locking away of the participants from outside influences, a measure that was introduced first as a means instead of forcing them to reach a decision.