okay, at your request I read the entire page.
apparently, that's all of the documents put forward by the first Vatican council.
what I saw was that when referring to one of the 12 apostles, the writers were careful to use the word
apostle.
when referring to one of the subsequent leaders of the church, they always used the word
apostolic.
exceptions were things like the phrase
place of the apostles.
for example
"...by which bishops, who have succeeded to the place of the apostles...
so my impressionis that the Catholic church does not see itself as having apostles,
but their leaders have apostolic authority, the place or role of the apostles.
an issue I see with the idea that
saying the Nicene Creed is pledging allegiance to the Catholic leaders
is that Eastern Orthodox leaders have the same "Roots".
the two groups are not in full agreement, so which group is one pledging allegiance to?
finally, I don't think I agree with the idea that whatever meaning was attached to something when it was written must be used later in other times and places.
the Protestants that I know that recite the Creed are endorsing the idea of a single universal church that is founded upon the apostles.