Dear Catholic Exchange:
Is the term “pope” used in the Bible?
Pamela Hall
Dear Pamela:
“Pope” is just a Latinate version of “Papa” or “Father.” St. Paul tells the Corinthians “I became your father” through the gospel. In the early Church, “pope” was used to describe various bishops and patriarchs. The term eventually came to designate the Bishop of Rome alone.
There are lots of terms Christians use which are not in the Bible (such as “Bible”, not to mention “Trinity”, “personal Savior” and even “asking Jesus into your heart” and “altar call”). The fact that a particular word is not found in the Bible means very little if the thing the word describes is real and true. The pope is a kind of “father” to the people of God through the gospel just as St. Paul was.
Some people will object that, in Matthew 23, Jesus said, “Call no man 'father'.” But they never object that Jesus also said, “Call no man 'teacher'” and people have no problem saying that Mr. Smith who teaches their 8th grade biology class is called a “teacher” everyday. And, of course, everybody calls their own Dad “father.” So the obvious point of Jesus' words was not to create a bizarre fetish over use of the word “father.” It was to emphasize the fact that God the Father is our father in the truest sense and that, as St. Paul tells us in Ephesians, from Him all fatherhood on earth derives its name. Jesus was warning against earthly claims to fatherhood that rival God's superior claim. He was not abolishing the use of the word “father.”
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
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Hello and good day.
I am an avid visitor to the Catholic Scripture Study site and I enjoy pretty much the teachings held in the site. Let's just say that my faith improved after doing some readings on this site. I love Truth Tracts the most. God is really working through you guys.
However, even when my faith strengthens there are things that come my way to shake it. I found this article from Newsweek and found the first part (about Mary Magdalene) confusing and disturbing.
I was hoping that you can take the time to read the article and tell me what you think of it. I would pretty much appreciate a response from anyone of you from CSS.
Thank you in advance and God bless.
Jeremiah Leong
Jeremiah:
The formula for stories like the article you mention is as follows:
Got an agenda you need to push? Just grab some figure from Scripture about which we know roughly two or three hard facts, attribute your ideology to her, spice it up with a little sex, declare the Church has engaged in a Grand Conspiracy to keep the Truth from us, and voila!: Your new poster girl saint is there, ready for consumption by members of the chattering classes in their little suburban reading groups. And (which is the real point for news vendors), you've stirred up interest in a salacious topic that will draw readers and thus help you earn shampoo and beer advertisement revenues.
100 years ago, it was like pulling teeth to get the chattering classes to believe the gospels were actually the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But these days, any old gnostic piece of rubbish at Nag Hammadi is immediately stamped the Authentic Testimony of those who were really in the know.
Some time ago, I wrote a piece called The Latest Real Jesus. At the time I wrote it, the “Jesus and Mary Got Married” schtick was the province of a few website kooks. Now that ABC has picked up the notion via The Da Vinci Code, I reprinted it on Catholic Exchange, but the argument is exactly the same.
In addition, you can read a nice debunking of the thoroughly worthless Da Vinci Code here.
In short, “be not afraid.” The gospel is still intact and still true. The critics are, not to put to fine a point on it, quacks and charlatans.
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
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