Duty of All Catholics
to the Pope and to the Church
There are many duties of Catholics, but one of the main duties is obedience to God, His Commandments and to His Church.If you love Me, keep My Commandments, Jesus tells us. (John 14:15)Obey your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls: that they may do this with joy and not with grief. For this is not expedient for you. (Hebrews 13:17) Notice Saint Paul says your prelates, that those that are placed over you by the Providence of God. We, then, both priests and people have a right to know where our pastors have received their power. From whose hand have they received the keys? If their mission comes from the Apostolic See, let us honor and obey them, for they are sent to us by Jesus Christ, who has invested them, through Peter, with His own authority. If they claim our obedience without having been sent by the Bishop of Rome, we must refuse to receive them, for they are not acknowledged by Christ as His ministers. The holy anointing may have conferred on them the sacred character of the episcopate: it matters not; they must be as aliens to us, for they have not been sent, they are not pastors. (Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Septuagesima, volume IV page 286)Indeed we declare, say, pronounce, and define that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff. (Pope Boniface VII in teh infallible Bull, Unam sanctam) It is the duty of all Catholics to be subject to the lawful pastors of the Church, that is to the Pope and those who are sent by the Pope. But the Episcopal order is rightly judged to be in communion with Peter, as Christ commanded, if it be subject to and obeys Peter; otherwise it necessarily becomes a lawless and disorderly crowd., Satis Cognitum of Pope Leo XIII. Our Diocesan Bishop, called in Canon Law, our Local Ordinary is appointed by the Pope to govern the diocese we reside in. Just as we obey the Pope, we obey the Bishop he has appointed over us. (In times past the Popes have allowed elections,b ut for well over a millenia such election required Papal Confirmation in order to be valid. Popes Pius XI and Pius XII granted Bishops in Russia and China to appoint and consecrate their own successors, because it was impossible to contact the Roman Pontiff. However, this is an exception to the law, and according to Canon 19 must be interpreted strictly.) The Ordinary appoints a pastor over the parish in which we reside, and we owe him obedience as our pastor. In missionary territories, which the world has virtually become because of the Great Apostasy, the government is slightly different, but the man claiming our obedience can trace his appointment back to the Pope through his superior(s). If he cannot, then we must reject him as a robber and a thief. What should we do if our lawful pastor(s) become evil? Saint John Chrysostom answers: Wicked? In what sense? If indeed in regard to Faith, flee and avoid him; not only if he be a man, but even if he be an angel come down from Heaven; but if in regard to life, be not over-curious. Schismatics and heretics immediately lose all authority in the Church, whereas other evil men, so long as they are tolerated in the ministry, retain their authority although they abuse it. 
Michael Fighting
