Apostolic Succession

By: Kaiser Fernandez

“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven…”

This passage from Matthew 16:18-19 established the apostle Simon as Peter, the Rock of the Church.  As such, he was given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which imparts full ecclesiastical power to Simon Peter.  From this turn of events, St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, was recognized as the first pope, and from then on, we have had a total of 265 popes including Pope Benedict XVI, the current Vicar of Christ.

The apostolic succession is a simple way of determining the true Church and therefore shows and proves the true teachings of Jesus Christ which have been passed on from the apostles, the first leaders of the Church, to their successors, down to the present bishops.  Only Roman Catholic bishops possess this continuous lineage of leaders traced from those appointed by Christ Himself.  Through this, the doctrine of the Church was preserved not only through the scriptures but also through the oral tradition.  Both of these are essential bases of Church Doctrine.

When the Pope solemnly defines a dogma, he is not in anyway speaking for himself nor is he establishing it from his own will.  Rather, it is by virtue of the power passed on to him by apostolic succession.  He presents us with the truth obtained from St. Peter who was given by our Lord the inspiration to do so.  Moreover, he was given the authority reflected in Jesus Christ’s words, “And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”

Sources
Newadvent.org
The Faith Explained by L. J. Trese
Catholic.com

Kaiser was an Electronics and Communications Engineering graduate from De La Salle University.  When he was a student, he resided at the Maynilad Study Center, an Opus Dei student center for males, and had been involved in some of the projects of the center such as catechism sessions for kids.