Q&A 33
Q. Are you saying that this pope-thing begun with St. Peter!?
A. Yes. St. Peter is the first pope. St. Linus (who received the laying on of hands from St. Peter) was the second. St. Cletus was the third... Pope Francis is the 266th; Pope Benedict was the 265th, Pope St. John Paul II the 264th... It's an unbroken line.
Q. You do realise St. Peter never called himself "pope" anything... That word "pope" doesn't even appear anywhere in the Bible!
A. Yes, that is true... But neither do the words "Trinity" or "Bible" appear anywhere in the Bible and yet we believe them as true realities.
Christians don't believe in the Bible ONLY. We believe in all revelation whether contained in Sacred Scripture (what the apostles wrote) or in Sacred Tradition (what the apostles preached). Just to drive the point home: there were Christians for 300 years living the very same Christian faith BEFORE the Bible as we know it came to be. How did they know what to believe and what not? From the preaching of the apostles and their descendants - from Sacred Tradition.
Q. Hmmm... Ok. And why do we call the bishop of Rome "pope"?
A. The word in English - descendent from "papa" - basically means "father". In Italian for example they still use that word: "il Papa" ("The Pope" or literally "The Father") or "Papa Francesco" ("Pope Francis" or literally "Father Francis"). The closest we have in English is "The Holy Father".
Even though every priest is called "Father", the word "Pope" has been used only for the Bishop of Rome from tradition.
Q. Why does he dress in white?
A. This was another tradition that started quite accidentally.
Pope St. Pius V was a Dominican priest much like Pope Francis is a Jesuit priest. The uniform or "habit" of the Dominicans was white. Pope Pius chose to continue wearing the Dominican white habit as pope. Successive popes continued the custom, and it is now the traditional color of the pope’s clothing.
20thOctober 2015