St. Peter was chosen by Jesus to lead the apostles. The Pope is the successor of St. Peter in his ministry of leading the apostles' successors, the bishops. In this way, the Pope leads the Church. Because he has a ministry of leadership and authority, the Pope can preserve, strengthen, and restore the unity of the Church, for unity is based on authoritative leadership.

Many Christian groups have tried to live the Christian life without accepting the Pope's chair of authority and unity. This has resulted in over 25,000 Christian denominations and in our culture of death. However, the Catholics of the world haven't done much better because many of them accept the Pope's authority in theory while ignoring or opposing it in practice.

Catholics, repent of not trying to know what the Pope teaches; repent of pride and disobedience to the Pope. Refusal to submit to the Pope's authority renders the Church disunited and weak. This lets the devil "get away with murder" by killing babies in the womb, breaking up families, breaking hearts, breaking down faith, and damning souls. Disobedience to the Pope's authority has set the stage for inexpressible death, injustice, sin, and destruction. Submit to the authority of the chair of Peter.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, August 9, 2000

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 18, 2000