Summa de Ecclesia

That the Roman pontiff has his power immediately from Christ is easily shown from many points. First from that passage in Matt. 16, where Christ says to Peter and in him to his successors: To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, etc. Upon this word Chrysologus says: The Son of God, throughout the world, granted power to Peter, and gave to a mortal man authority over all things that are in heaven, that by the power of the keys he might enlarge the Church. The same is argued secondly from that passage in the last chapter of John, where Christ, speaking to Peter, says: Simon son of John, feed my sheep. Here the care of the whole Church is manifestly committed to Peter, and in him is committed immediately by Christ to his successors. Upon this word the blessed Chrysogonus says: Feed my sheep, that is, in my place be set over them and be head of your brethren. Thirdly by reason thus: In every hierarchy, the first in it receives the authority of ordering those who follow in the same order from him who simply and in the first place presides over the whole hierarchy. This is clear from the saying of the blessed Dionysius, who says in the sixth chapter of the Celestial Hierarchy: It is proper to the angels of the first hierarchy to be about God. This is not to be understood as to participation in blessedness, since in that way all the good angels and all the saints are about God, but as to the reception of illuminations, which to receive immediately from God is proper to them. Therefore in like manner the first who is in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is modeled on the celestial — of which sort is the supreme pontiff — must be said to receive immediately from Christ the power according to which he is the summit and head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the consequence is clear. And this is what Pope Leo says, and it is found in 24, q. 1: that the most blessed apostle Peter received the primacy from the Lord.

Fourthly thus: The first power in each power-ordered rank, which is necessarily presupposed by the other inferior powers of that order, must depend immediately on the author of that order; this is self-evident. But the papal power is the first in the ecclesiastical order among all the powers of it, as the blessed Anacletus says in ch. In novo, dist. 21: Peter first received from Christ the power of binding and loosing, which power stands to the rest as mother, root, and origin, as is held from ch. Loquitur, 24, q. 1. And we shall make this manifest below, God granting. Therefore it follows that the power of the Pope is immediately from God, who is the author and founder of the ecclesiastical order; the consequence is clear.

Fifthly, every power which one uses in the government of any community, as vicar of another, is derived immediately from him whose vicar he is said to be; this is clear. But the papal power is said to be that which the supreme pontiff uses in the government of the community of the Church, as vicar of Christ; therefore such power in the supreme pontiff is immediately from Christ; the consequence is clear.

Sixthly thus: The papal power cannot be conferred by man, therefore it is conferred immediately by Christ alone; the consequence is clear. The antecedent is proved thus: For if it were conferred by man, it would be either by the man who is Pope himself, or by the whole community, or by one holding its place. But it is conferred neither in the first way nor in the second. Therefore etc. The proof of the minor, that it is not from the Pope, is clear, because no one can confer upon himself the power of jurisdiction. That it could not be conferred by the community of the Church is proved thus: No community can confer the power according to which it is governed by its superior lord, whose lordship does not depend on the consent of the community. But this power is of that kind, because the papal power is the power according to which the Christian community ought to be governed by Christ through his vicar, whose lordship does not hang upon the consent of the Christian community; therefore etc. This conclusion is confirmed by authority. First by Pope Nicholas, who, writing to Milan in ch. Omnes, dist. 22, speaks thus: The Roman Church was founded by himself alone, namely Christ, and he raised it upon the rock of the faith then being born, who committed to the blessed Peter, bearer of the keys of eternal life, at once the rights of earthly and of heavenly empire. Not therefore any earthly substance, but that Word by which heaven and earth were constituted, through which finally all created elements were founded, founded the Roman Church; this is what he says. There are many authorities of the other holy fathers to this effect most manifest¹, as is held in ch. In novo and in ch. p. Quamvis, dist. 21, and in ch. Sacrosancta, dist. 22. From these the error of those who say that Peter had the principate over the other apostles not immediately from Christ but by human institution is manifestly refuted.