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In canonical and general usage, it refers to those who exercise authority within a Christian church. [3] In the Catholic Church, authority rests chiefly with bishops, [4] while priests and deacons serve as their assistants, co-workers or helpers. [5] Accordingly, "hierarchy of the Catholic Church" is also used to refer to the bishops alone. [6]
This is a glossary of terms used within the Catholic Church.Some terms used in everyday English have a different meaning in the context of the Catholic faith, including brother, confession, confirmation, exemption, faithful, father, ordinary, religious, sister, venerable, and vow.
The clergy–penitent privilege, clergy privilege, confessional privilege, priest–penitent privilege, pastor–penitent privilege, clergyman–communicant privilege, or ecclesiastical privilege, is a rule of evidence that forbids judicial inquiry into certain communications (spoken or otherwise) between clergy and members of their congregation. [1]
Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world". The laity forms the majority of the estimated over one billion Catholics in the world. [1]
Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of the entire Catholic Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: [1] that, in ...
A lay leader is a member of the laity in any congregation who has been chosen as a leader either by their peers or the leadership of the congregation. [1] [2] [3] In most denominations, lay leadership is not an ordained clerical office, and the lay leader's responsibilities vary according to the particular tradition of the congregation.
The Roman Catholic Church interprets the command against "false witness" more broadly than the Jewish historical context of perjury, and considers it as a broad prohibition against misrepresenting the truth in one's relation with others. This commandment enjoins truthfulness and respect for other's good name, even the dead.
The Catholic Church believes it is the continuation of those who remained faithful to the apostolic leadership and rejected false teachings. [168] Catholic belief is that the Church will never defect from the truth, and bases this on Jesus' telling Peter the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. [169]