The Bishops’ College & Councils Must Obey the Pope

Nor does it beget any confusion in the administration that Christians are bound to obey a twofold authority. We are prohibited in the first place by Divine Wisdom from entertaining any such thought, since this form of government was constituted by the counsel of God Himself. In the second place we must note that the due order of things and their mutual relations are disturbed if there be a twofold magistracy of the same rank set over a people, neither of which is amenable to the other.

But the authority of the Roman Pontiff is supreme, universal, independent; that of the Bishops limited, and dependent. "It is not congruous that two superiors with equal authority should be placed over the same flock; but that two, one of whom is higher than the other, should be placed over the same people is not incongruous. Thus the parish priest, the Bishop, and the Pope, are placed immediately over the same people" (St. Thomas, IV Sententiarum, dist. 17., a. 4, ad q. 4, ad 3).

So, the Roman Pontiffs, mindful of their duty, wish above all things, that the divine constitution of the Church should be preserved. Therefore, as they defend with all necessary care and vigilance their own authority, so they have always labored, and will continue to labor, that the authority of the Bishops may be upheld. Yea, they look up whatever honor or obedience is given to the Bishops as paid to themselves. "My honor is the honor of the Universal Church. My honor is the strength and stability of my brethren. Then am I honored when due honor is given to everyone" (S. Gregorius M. Epistolarum, ad Eulogium, lib 8., ep. 30).

In what has been said we have faithfully described the exemplar and form of the Church as divinely constituted. We have treated at length of its unity: we have explained sufficiently its nature, and pointed out the way in which the Divine Founder of the Church willed that it should be preserved. There is no reason to doubt that all those, who by Divine Grace and mercy have had the happiness to have been born, as it were, in the bosom of the Catholic Church, and to have lived in it, will listen to Our Apostolic Voice: "My sheep hear my voice" (John 10: 27), and that they will derive from Our words fuller instruction and a more perfect disposition to keep united with their respective pastors, and through them with the Supreme Pastor, so that they may remain more securely within the one fold, and may derive therefrom a greater abundance of salutary fruit.

Leo XIII, Encyclical Satis cognitum, §§ 15, 16

Posted on August 30, 2025