Excerpts from:
http://www.truechurchofgod.info/id18.htm
The Pope's
Crown Bears This Inscription
Question. "What are the letters supposed to be in the Pope's crown, and what do they signify if anything?
Answer. "The letters inscribed in the Pope's mitre are these:
Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for Vicar of the Son of God. Catholics hold that the Church which is a visible society must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Upon the death of Peter the man who succeeded to the office of Peter as Bishop of Rome, was recognized as the head of the Church. Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, was given the title 'Vicar of Christ.'
"Enemies of the Papacy denounce this title as a malicious assumption. But the Bible informs us that Christ did not only give His Church authority to teach, but also to rule. Laying claim to the authority to rule in Christ's spiritual kingdom, in Christ's stead, is not a whit more malicious than laying claim to the authority to teach in Christ's name. And this every Christian minister does." Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly), April 18, 1915, thirteenth question under "Bureau of Information," p. 3, (on page 2 appears "sanctions for the editor" from Pope Pius X, dated May 17, 1914; from the Apostolic Delegate, John Bonzano, dated April 27, 1913; and from J. H. Alerding, Bishop of Fort Wayne, Ind., dated March 29, 1912).
"Beatus Petrus in terris Vicarius filii Dei videtur esse constitutus." Decretum Gratiani, prima pars, dist. xcvi, col. 472, (first published at Bologna about 1148, and reprinted in 1555. Translation by Christopher B. Coleman, Ph. D., in "The Treatise of Lorenzo Vallo on the Donation of Constantine," p. 13. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922).
(Translated into the English this reads: "Blessed Peter is seen to have been constituted vicar of the son of God on the earth.")
"Beatus Petrus in terris Vicarius filii Dei esse videtur constitutus." Corpus Juris Canonici Emendatum et Notis Illustratum Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max., Lvgdvn., MDCXXII, col. 295.
"Beatus Petrus in terris vicarius Filii Dei esse videtur constitutus." Corpus Juris Canonici, Gregorii XIII, Pontif. Max., Auctoritate, Distinctio 96, Column 286, Canon Constantinus 14, Magdeburg, 1747.
The title given to the Pope is "Vicarius Filii Dei." Sacrosancta concilia ad regitionem exacta, by Philippe Labbe, SJ., Vol. I, p 1534: Paris, 1671.
"The temporal power in the hands of St. Gregory I was a fatherly and patriarchal rule over nations not as yet reduced to civil order. In the hands of St. Leo III it became a power of creating empires. In the hands of St. Gregory VII it was a scourge to chasten them. In the hands of Alexander III it was a dynasty, ruling supremely, in the name of God, over the powers of the world....So that I may say there never was a time when the temporal power of the Vicar of the Son of God, though assailed as we see it, was more firmly rooted throughout the whole unity of the Catholic Church.
The Pope Has All
Power in Heaven and Earth and Can Change Divine Laws
"The Pope is of great authority and power, that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws. The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth..." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #30, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
“The Pope’s authority is unlimited, incalculable; it can strike, as Innocent III says, wherever sin is; it can punish every one; it allows no appeal and is itself Sovereign Caprice; for the Pope carries, according to the expression of Boniface VIII, all rights in the Shrine of his breast. As he has now become infallible, he can by the use of the little word, 'orbi,' (which means that he turns himself round to the whole Church) make every rule, every doctrine, every demand, into a certain and incontestable article of Faith. No right can stand against him, no personal or corporate liberty; or as the Canonists put it -- 'The tribunal of God and of the pope is one and the same.'” Ignaz von Dollinger, in “A Letter Addressed to the Archbishop of Munich”, 1871 (quoted in The Acton Newman Relations (Fordham University Press), by MacDougall, p 119-120).
"We may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God....dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority....I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do...Wherefore, no marvel, if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea with the precepts of Christ." Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope).
All People
Must Be Subject to the Authority of the Pope in Order to be in God's True Church
"It is absolutely necessary that the Christian community be subject in all things to the Sovereign Pontiff if it wishes to be a part of the divinely-established society founded by our Redeemer." Pope Pius XII, Orientalis Ecclesiae, quoted in "Acta Apostolicae Sedis", 36:129, Rome: Vatican Press, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"Where Peter (or his successor) is, there is the Church." St. Ambrose, Commentary on Twelve of David's Psalms, XL:30; JUR, vol. 2:1261, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"You above all, venerable brothers, have known how this dogma of our religion has been unanimously and unceasingly declared, defended and insisted upon in synods by the Fathers of the Church. Indeed, they have never stopped teaching that 'God is one, Christ is one, the Church established upon Peter by the voice of the Lord is one;' 'the massive foundation of the great Christian state has been divinely built upon, as it were, this rock, this very firm stone;' 'this Chair, which is unique and the first of gifts, has always been designated and considered as the Chair of Peter;' 'shining forth throughout the world it maintains its primacy;' 'it is also the root and matrix whence sacerdotal unity has sprung;' it is not only the head but also the mother and teacher of all the Churches...'the Roman Pontiff, who holds Primacy in the entire world, is the Successor of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, and is the visible Father and Teacher of all Christians.' There are other, almost countless, proofs drawn from the most trustworthy witnesses which clearly and openly testify with great faith, exactitude, respect and obedience that all who want to belong to the true and only Church of Christ must honor and obey this Apostolic See and Roman Pontiff." Pope Pius IX, Amantissimus (On The Care Of The Churches), Encyclical promulgated on April 8, 1862, # 3.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P9AMANT2.HTM
"No one is found in the one Church of Christ, and no one perseveres in it, unless he acknowledges and accepts obediently the supreme authority of St. Peter and his legitimate successors." Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, PTC:873, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"It is an error to believe that a man is in the Church if he abandons the See of Peter, the foundation of the Church." St. Cyprian, UOC, CSL, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 207 (1868), (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
