Hierarchy of the Catholic Church

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Hierarchy of the Catholic Church
Saint Peter
Ecclesiastical titles (order of precedence)
Pope Cardinal Cardinal Vicar Crown Prince Protector Moderator of the curia Chaplain of His Holiness Papal legate Papal majordomo Apostolic nuncio Apostolic delegate Apostolic Syndic Apostolic visitor Vicar apostolic Apostolic exarch Apostolic prefect Assistant to the papal throne Eparch Metropolitan Patriarch Catholicos Bishop Archbishop Bishop emeritus Diocesan bishop Major archbishop Primate Suffragan bishop Titular bishop Coadjutor bishop Auxiliary bishop Prelate Provost Pontiff Territorial prelate Territorial abbot
Liturgical titles Acolyte Consecrator Lector Subdeacon
Administrative and pastoral titles Auditor Brother Chancellor Chaplain Military chaplain Military ordinary Coarb Confessor Consultor Curate Deacon Archdeacon Defender of the bond Definitor Devil's advocate Diocesan administrator Ecclesiastical judge Exorcist Laity Lay abbot Abthain Commendatory Lay cardinal Minister Major orders Minor orders Missionary Monsignor Officialis Ostiarius Pastor Assistant pastor Palatinus Personal prelate Preacher Prefect Presbyter Elder Priest Principal Protonotary apostolic Reverend Saint Servant of God Blessed Venerable Seminarian Vicar Judicial vicar Vicar general Vicar forane Sub-dean
Consecrated and professed titles Abbess Abbot Consecrated virgin Corrector Custos Friar Dean Grand master Hermit Master of novices Monk Novice Nun Postulant Oblate Prior Provincial superior Rector Religious Superior general
Additional titles Almoner Altar server Archimandrite Archpriest Archdeacon Canon Captain General of the Church Chorbishop Coarb Commissary Apostolic Datarius Gonfalonier of the Church Honorary Prelate Minor canon Notarius Ostiarius Peritus Postulator Prebendary Precentor Prince-bishop Prince-abbot Prince-primate Prince-provost Promotor Fidei Protopriest Protodeacon Protosyncellus Regionarius Sacristan
Organization titles Grand master Knights Hospitaller Order of the Holy Sepulchre Teutonic Knights Inquisitor Grand Inquisitor Preceptor
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The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its

, so to respect the diversity of gifts and ministries necessary for genuine unity.

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] The term "pope" was still used loosely until the sixth century, being at times assumed by other bishops.^[7] The term "hierarchy" became popular only in the sixth century, due to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius.^[8]

As of 31 December 2020, the Catholic Church consisted of 2,903

All clergy, including deacons, priests, and bishops, may preach, teach,

Bishop

Main article:

Bishop (Catholic Church)

The

at the end of 2021, there were 5,340 Catholic bishops. The Pope himself is a bishop (the bishop of Rome) and traditionally uses the title "Venerable Brother" when writing formally to another bishop.

The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a

.

Bishops of a country or region may form an episcopal conference and meet periodically to discuss current problems. Decisions in certain fields, notably liturgy, fall within the exclusive competence of these conferences. The decisions of the conferences are binding on the individual bishops only if agreed to by at least two-thirds of the membership and confirmed by the Holy See.

Bishops are normally ordained to the episcopate by at least three other bishops,^[20] though for validity only one is needed^[23] and a mandatum from the Holy See is required.^[24] Ordination to the episcopate is considered the completion of the sacrament of Holy Orders; even when a bishop retires from his active service, he remains a bishop, since the ontological effect of Holy Orders is permanent. On the other hand, titles such as archbishop or patriarch imply no ontological alteration, and existing bishops who rise to those offices do not require further ordination.

Sacramentally, all bishops are equal. According to jurisdiction, office, and privileges, however, various ranks are distinguished, as indicated below. All bishops are "vicars of Christ".^[25]

Pope (Bishop of Rome)

The pope is the bishop of Rome. He is also, by virtue of that office:

Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God.^[26]

Offices and titles

"Pope" is a pronominal honorific, not an office or a title, meaning "Father" (the common honorific for all clergy). The honorific "pope" was from the early 3rd century used for any bishop in the West, and is known in Greek as far back as Homer's Odyssey (6:57). In the East, "pope" is still a common form of address for clergy in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, and is the style of the bishop of Alexandria. Pope Marcellinus (died 304) is the first Bishop of Rome shown in sources to have had the title "pope" used of him. From the 6th century, the imperial chancery of Constantinople normally reserved this designation for the Bishop of Rome. From the early 6th century, it began to be confined in the West to the Bishop of Rome, a practice that was firmly in place by the 11th century, when Pope Gregory VII declared it reserved for the Bishop of Rome.^{[citation needed]}

As bishop of the Church of Rome, he is successor to the co-patrons of that local church,

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council's document Lumen gentium, states: "The pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, 'is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.'"^[31] Communion with the bishop of Rome has become such a significant identifier of Catholic identity that at times the Catholic Church has been known in its entirety as "Roman Catholic," though this is inaccurate in Catholic theology (ecclesiology).^[32]

Three other of the pope's offices stem directly from his office as bishop of the Church of Rome. As the Latin Church owes its identity and development to its origins in the liturgical, juridical, and theological patrimony of Rome, the bishop of Rome is de facto the patriarch of the Latin Church. According to Pope Benedict XVI, there has been much 'confusion' between the pope's primacy as patriarch of the western church and his primacy as first patriarch among equals, that this "failure to distinguish" between the roles and responsibilities of these two distinct positions leads in time to the "extreme centralization of the Catholic Church" and the schism between East and West.^[33]

As the first local Church of Italy, the bishop of Rome is the Primate of Italy and is empowered to appoint the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

The Church of Rome is also the principal church of the Province of Rome, so the bishop of Rome is Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province.

As a bishop, the pope is referred to as a Vicar of Christ. This title was common to all bishops from the fourth through twelfth centuries, reserved to the bishop of Rome from the twelfth through early twentieth centuries, and restored to all bishops at the Second Vatican Council.^[34]

The pope resides in

since 1929.

Ambassadors are accredited not to the Vatican City State but to the Holy See, which was subject to international law even before the state was instituted. The body of officials that assist the Pope in governance of the church as a whole is known as the

, which concerns governance of the Latin Church as a whole and not internal affairs of the see (diocese) of Rome itself, necessarily uses the term in this technical sense.

Finally, the title "

Pope Gregory the Great

, a reminder that in Christianity, leadership is always about service/ministry (diakonia).

The

style

of address for the bishop of Rome is "His Holiness".

Election

The present rules governing the election of a pope are found in the apostolic constitution

. This word is derived from Latin com- (together) and clavis (key) and refers to the locking away of the participants from outside influences, a measure that was introduced first as a means instead of forcing them to reach a decision.

Like all bishops, the pope has the option of

in 2013. Approximately 10% of all popes left or were removed from office before death.

Eastern patriarchs

The heads of some autonomous (in

The pope, as patriarch of the Latin Church, is the head of the only sui iuris Church in the West, leading to the title Patriarch of the West. Eastern patriarchs are elected by the synod of bishops of their particular church.^[37]

The patriarchs who head autonomous particular churches are:

• The
  Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria (Coptic Catholic Church)^[38]
• The
  Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch (Melkite Greek Catholic Church)^[39]
• The
  Maronite Patriarch of Antioch (Maronite Church)^[40]
• The
  Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch (Syriac Catholic Church)^[41]
• The
  Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylonia (Chaldean Catholic Church)^[42]
• The
  Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia (Armenian Catholic Church)^[43]

These have authority not only over the bishops of their particular church, including metropolitans, but also directly over all the faithful.[44] Eastern Catholic patriarchs have precedence over all other bishops, with the exceptions laid down by the Pope.^[45] The honorary title prefixed to their names is "His Beatitude".

Current and historical Catholic patriarchates

Type	Church	Patriarchate	Patriarch
Patriarchs of sui iuris Churches	Coptic	Alexandria	Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak
	Greek-Melkite	Antioch	Patriarch Youssef Absi
	Maronite	Antioch	Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi
	Syriac	Antioch	Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan
	Armenian	Cilicia	Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian
	Chaldean	Baghdad	Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako

Major archbishops

Other autonomous particular churches are headed by a major archbishop.^[46] The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church uses the title Catholicos for their major archbishop.^[47] With few exceptions, the authority of a major archbishop in his sui iuris church is equivalent to that of a patriarch in his church.^[48] This less prestigious office^[49] was established in 1963 for those Eastern Catholic Churches which have developed in size and stability to allow full self-governance if historical, ecumenical, or political conditions do not allow their elevation to a patriarchate.

At present, there are four major archbishops:

List of Catholic major archbishops

Major archdiocese	Country	Church	Major Archbishop
Trivandrum	India	Syro-Malankara	Cardinal Baselios Cleemis
Ernakulam-Angamaly	India	Syro-Malabar	Cardinal Raphael Thattil
Făgăraş and Alba Iulia	Romania	Romanian	Cardinal Lucian Mureșan
Kyiv–Galicia	Ukraine	Ukrainian	Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk

Latin patriarchs

There are also titular patriarchs in the Latin Church, who, for various historical reasons, were granted the title, but never the corresponding office and responsibilities, of "patriarch". They include the

was in the past granted to some Spanish bishops (not always of the same see), but is long in abeyance.

Current and historical Latin patriarchates

Type	Patriarchate	Patriarch
Patriarchs of the Latin Church	Jerusalem	Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa
	Lisbon	Patriarch Rui Valério
	Venice	Patriarch Francesco Moraglia
Titular patriarchs of the Latin Church	East Indies	Patriarch Filipe Neri Ferrão
	West Indies	vacant from 1963
Suppressed titles	Alexandria	suppressed in 1964
	Antioch	suppressed in 1964
	Constantinople	suppressed in 1964
	Aquileia	suppressed in 1751
	Grado	transferred to Venice in 1451

Cardinals

as a form of martyred position in the church.

Not all cardinals are bishops. Domenico Bartolucci, Karl Josef Becker, Roberto Tucci and Albert Vanhoye are examples of 21st-century non-bishop cardinals. The 1917 Code of Canon Law introduced the requirement that a cardinal must be at least a priest.^[52] Previously, they need only be in minor orders and not even deacons. Teodolfo Mertel, who died in 1899, was the last non-priest cardinal. In 1962, Pope John XXIII made it a rule that a man who has been nominated a cardinal is required to be consecrated a bishop, if not one already,^[53] but some ask for and obtain dispensation from this requirement. It is rare that the Pope will appoint Cardinals who are priests only and not consecrated as a bishop.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law, continuing the tradition observed, for instance, at the First Vatican Council,^[54] laid down that cardinals have precedence over all other prelates, even patriarchs.^[55] The 1983 Code of Canon Law did not deal with questions of precedence.

The cardinalate is not an integral part of the theological structure of the Catholic Church, but largely an honorific distinction that has its origins in the 1059 assignation of the right of electing the Pope exclusively to the principal clergy of Rome and the bishops of the seven

, the former rank being normally assigned to bishops in charge of dioceses, and the latter to officials of the Curia and to priests raised to the cardinalate.

Primates

The Latin Church title of

, founded in 968).

Notably, the

, but "prerogative of the place".

The closest equivalent position in Eastern Orthodoxy is an exarch holding authority over other bishops without being a patriarch.^[56] In the Eastern Catholic Churches, exarchs, whether apostolic or patriarchal, do not hold authority over other bishops (see below).

Metropolitan bishops

A Latin Church Metropolitan is the bishop of the principal (the "metropolitan") see of an ecclesiastical province composed of several dioceses. The metropolitan receives a pallium from the pope as a symbol of his office. The metropolitan bishop has limited oversight authority over the

The metropolitans of a given territory are also involved in the selection of bishops. Every three years, they compile a list of promovendis - a list of priests who may be suitable for the office of bishop. This is forwarded to the local apostolic nuncio, who evaluates the candidates in a consultative and confidential process. The nuncio in turn forwards the best candidates to the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome, who conduct a final evaluation of candidates and offer their findings to the pope for his final decision of appointment.^[62]

Eastern Metropolitans in patriarchal or major archiepiscopal churches have a level of authority similar to that of Latin metropolitans, subject to the specific laws and customs of their sui iuris church.^[63] Eastern metropolitans who head a metropolitan sui iuris church have much greater authority within their church, although it is less than that of a major archbishop or patriarch.^[64]

All metropolitans have the title of

.

Archbishops

The title of archbishop is held not only by bishops who head metropolitan sees, but also by those who head archdioceses that are not metropolitan sees (most of these are in Europe and the

.

Diocesan bishops

The bishop or eparch of a see, even if he does not also hold a title such as archbishop, metropolitan, major archbishop, patriarch or pope, is the centre of unity for his diocese or eparchy, and, as a member of the College of Bishops, shares in responsibility for governance of the whole church (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 886).

Within the Catholic Church the following posts have similarities to that of a diocesan bishop, but are not necessarily held by a bishop.

Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law

Canon 368 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law lists five Latin Church jurisdictional areas that are considered equivalent to a diocese. These are headed by:

• A
  Territorial Prelate
  , formerly called a Prelate nullius dioceseos (of no diocese), in charge of a geographical area that has not yet been raised to the level of diocese
• A Territorial Abbot, in charge of an area, which in mission countries can be quite vast, associated with an abbey
• A
  Vicar Apostolic
  (normally a bishop of a titular see), in charge of an apostolic vicariate, usually in a mission country, not yet ready to be made a diocese
• A Prefect Apostolic (usually not a bishop), in charge of an apostolic prefecture, not yet ready to be made an apostolic vicariate
• A
  Permanent Apostolic Administrator
  , in charge of a geographical area that for serious reasons cannot be made a diocese.

To these may be added:^{[citation needed]}

• An
  Eastern Catholic Church
  in an area that is situated outside the home territory of that Eastern Church.
• A
  Eastern Catholic Church in an area situated within the home territory of that patriarchal Eastern Church.^[67]
• A Military Ordinary, serving Catholics in a country's armed forces
• A
  Personal Prelate, in charge of a group of persons without regard to geography: the only personal prelature existing is that of Opus Dei
  .
• An
  apostolic administrator of a personal apostolic administration: only one exists, the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
• An ordinary of a personal ordinariate for former Anglicans^[68]
• A superior of an autonomous mission

Of somewhat similar standing is the

, or even a diocese whose bishop is incapacitated or otherwise impeded.

Other bishops

A diocesan bishop may have bishops who assist in his ministry. The

, a see that in the course of history has ceased to exist as an actual jurisdictional unit.

Important titles or functions usually, but not necessarily, held by (arch)bishops who are not in charge of a diocese or an equivalent community include those of

.

Ordinaries and local ordinaries

Main article:

Ordinary (officer)

Local ordinaries are placed over or exercise ordinary executive power in

• The Supreme Pontiff (the Pope) is a local ordinary for the whole Catholic Church.^[70][71]
• In Eastern Catholic Churches, Patriarchs, major archbishops, and metropolitans have ordinary power of governance for the whole territory of their respective autonomous particular churches.^[72]
• bishops and eparchial eparchs
• Other
  particular church or a community equivalent to it (see above
  )
• Vicars general and protosyncelli

Main article: Vicar general

• Episcopal vicars and syncelli

Main article: Vicar general

Major superiors of religious institutes (including abbots) and of societies of apostolic life are ordinaries of their respective memberships, but not local ordinaries.

Presbyterate

In general

Bishops are assisted by priests^[73] and deacons. All priests and deacons are incardinated in a diocese or religious order. Parishes, whether territorial or person-based, within a diocese are normally in the charge of a priest, known as the parish priest or the pastor.^[73]

In the Latin Church, only celibate men, as a rule, are ordained as priests, while the Eastern Churches, again as a rule, ordain both celibate and married men. Among the Eastern particular Churches, the

churches of the Catholic Church maintain the ancient tradition that, following ordination, marriage is not allowed. Even a married priest or deacon whose wife dies may not then marry again.

The Catholic Church and the ancient Christian Churches see priestly ordination as a sacrament dedicating the ordinand to a permanent relationship of service, and, like Baptism and Confirmation, having an ontological effect on him. It is for this reason that a person may be ordained to each of the three orders only once. They also consider that ordination can be conferred only on males.

Priests in service outside their diocese

Although priests are incardinated into a diocese or order, they may obtain the permission of their diocesan ordinary or religious superior to serve outside the normal jurisdiction of the diocese or order. These assignments may be temporary or more permanent in nature.

Temporary assignments may include studying for an advanced degree at a

located outside the diocese's territory.

Long-term assignments include serving the universal church on the staff of a dicastery or tribunal of the Roman Curia or in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See. They may also be appointed the rector or to long-term teaching assignments to the faculty of a seminary or Catholic university. Priests may also serve on the staff of their episcopal conference, as military chaplains in the military ordinariates, or as missionaries.

Positions within a diocese at diocesan level

The diocesan bishop appoints a

).

Diocesan bishops are required to appoint a

), be at least thirty years old, and, unless the smallness of the diocese or the limited number of cases suggests otherwise, must not be the vicar general. As one of the jobs of the judicial vicar is to preside over collegiate tribunals, many dioceses have adjutant judicial vicars who can preside over collegiate tribunals in place of the judicial vicar and must have the same qualifications.

The diocesan bishop appoints a chancellor, possibly a vice-chancellor, and notaries to the diocesan chancery. These officials maintain the records and archives of the diocese. They also serve as the secretaries of the diocesan curia. The bishop also appoints a finance officer and a finance council to oversee the budget, temporal goods, income, and expenses of the diocese.

The diocesan bishop may appoint priests to be members of the

in the event of the vacancy of the see.

The bishop appoints priests and other members of the faithful to various advisory bodies. These include the presbyteral council, the diocesan synod, and the pastoral council.

Vicars forane or deans

"The

or the Archpriest or by some other title, is the priest who is placed in charge of a vicariate forane" (canon 553 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law), namely of a group of parishes within a diocese. Unlike a regional Episcopal vicar, a vicar forane acts as a help for the parish priests and other priests in the vicariate forane, rather than as an intermediate authority between them and the diocesan bishop.

Parish priest/pastor

This section concerns the priest who in the 1983 Code of Canon Law is referred to by the term parochus, which in some English-speaking countries is rendered as "the parish priest", in others as "the pastor". The English term "pastor" is also used in a more generic sense corresponding instead to the Latin term pastor:

The parish priest is the proper pastor of the parish entrusted to him. He exercises the pastoral care of the community entrusted to him under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, whose ministry of Christ he is called to share, so that for this community he may carry out the offices of teaching, sanctifying and ruling with the cooperation of other priests or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of Christ's faithful, in accordance with the law

—canon 519 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law in the English translation by the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, assisted by the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Canadian Canon Law Society

The pastor (parochus) is the proper pastor (pastor) of the parish entrusted to him, exercising the pastoral care of the community committed to him under the authority of the diocesan bishop in whose ministry of Christ he has been called to share, so that for that same community he carries out the functions of teaching, sanctifying, and governing, also with the cooperation of other presbyters or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of the Christian faithful, according to the norm of law

—canon 519 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law in the English translation by the Canon Law Society of America).

Assistant priests/parochial vicars

The parish priest/pastor may be assisted by one or more other priests:

Whenever it is necessary or opportune for the due pastoral care of the parish, one or more assistant priests can be joined with the parish priest. As cooperators with the parish priest and sharers in his concern, they are, by common counsel and effort with the parish priest and under his authority, to labour in the pastoral ministry

—canon 545 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law in the English translation by the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, assisted by the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Canadian Canon Law Society

Whenever it is necessary or opportune in order to carry out the pastoral care of a parish fittingly, one or more parochial vicars can be associated with the pastor. As co-workers with the pastor and sharers in his solicitude, they are to offer service in the pastoral ministry by common counsel and effort with the pastor and under his authority

—canon 545 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law in the English translation by the Canon Law Society of America

Honorary titles

The honorary title of monsignor is conferred by the Pope upon diocesan priests (not members of religious institutes) in the service of the Holy See, and may be granted by him also to other diocesan priests at the request of the priest's bishop. The priest so honored is considered to be a member of the papal household. The title goes with any of the following three awards:

• Chaplain of His Holiness (called Papal Chamberlain until a 1969 reform),^[76] the lowest level, distinguished by purple buttons and trim on the black cassock, with a purple sash.
• Honorary Prelate
  (until 1969 called Domestic Prelate), the middle level, distinguished by red buttons and trim on the black cassock, with a purple sash, and by choir dress that includes a purple cassock.
• Protonotary Apostolic, the highest level, with the same dress as that of an Honorary Prelate, except that the non-obligatory purple silk cape known as a ferraiolo
  may also be worn.

In December 2013, Pope Francis decided to make future grants of the title of Monsignor to priests not in the service of the Holy See only in the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness and only to priests aged 65 or over.^[77]

Under legislation of

.)

Some of the Eastern Catholic Churches of Syriac tradition use the title Chorbishop, roughly equivalent to the Western title of Monsignor. Other Eastern Catholic Churches bestow the honorific title of Archimandrite upon unmarried priests as a mark of respect or gratitude for their services. Married presbyters may be honored with the position of Archpriest, which has two grades, the higher is "Mitred Archpriest" which permits the priest to wear a mitre.

In the Latin Church, the title of Archpriest is sometimes attached to the pastors of historic churches, including the major basilicas in Rome. These archpriests are not presbyters, but bishops or cardinals.^[79] Similarly, the title of Archdeacon is sometimes conferred on presbyters.

Diaconate

, in the absence of a priest, deacons do not vest and may only lead services as a reader, never presiding at weddings or funerals.

The scriptural basis and description of the role and qualifications of the deacon can be found in Acts 6:1–9, and in 1 Timothy 3:1–13.[80]

They may be seminarians preparing for ordination to the priesthood, "transitional deacons", or "permanent deacons" who do not intend to be ordained as priests. To be ordained deacons, the latter must be at least 25 years old, if unmarried; if married, a prospective deacon must be at least 35 years old and have the consent of his wife.^[81] In the Latin Church, married deacons are permanent deacons. In most diocese there is a cut-off age for being accepted into formation for the diaconate.^{[citation needed]}

The passage from membership of the laity to that of the clergy occurs with ordination to the diaconate.^[82] Previously, the Latin Church rule was that one became a cleric on receiving clerical tonsure, which was followed by minor orders and by the subdiaconate, which was reckoned as one of the major orders. By his motu proprio Ministeria quaedam of 15 August 1972, Pope Paul VI decreed: "The orders hitherto called minor are henceforth to be spoken of as 'ministries'."^[83] The same motu proprio also decreed that the Latin Church would no longer have the major order of subdiaconate, but it permitted any episcopal conference that so desired to apply the term "subdeacon" to those who hold the ministry (formerly called the minor order) of "acolyte".^[84] Even in those societies within the Latin Church that, with the approval of the Holy See, continue to administer the rites of tonsure, minor orders and subdiaconate, those who receive those rites remain lay people, becoming clerics only on being ordained as deacons.^[85]

Laity

Most Catholics are laity, a term derived from Greek λαὸς Θεοῦ (Laòs Theoû), meaning "people of God". All Christian faithful have the right and duty to bring the gospel message increasingly to "all people in every age and every land".^[86] They all have a share in the church's mission and have the right to undertake apostolic activity according to their own state and condition.^[87]

Some lay Catholics carry out full-time professional and vocational service in the name of the church, rather than in a secular calling. Though the phenomenon is widespread in North America and much of Europe, the organization and definition of the ministry is left to national bishops conferences. The

The consultative leadership of the church, in both the diocese and the parish, usually comprises a Pastoral Council[92]^[93] and a Finance Council,^[94][95] as well as several Commissions usually focusing on major aspects of the church's life and mission, such as Faith Formation or Christian Education, Liturgy, Social Justice, Ecumenism, or Stewardship.^{[citation needed]}

Religious

Religious institutes have historically been subdivided into the categories of

.

See also

References

External links

• Directory of officials
  • Catholic-Hierarchy.org. This is an online
    Kansas City. For the sources used by Cheney in his compilation, see http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/sources.html. ^{[self-published]}
  • GCatholic.org
• Explanations of the hierarchy
  • Book II: The People of God Liber II. De Populo Dei, Part II: The Hierarchical Constitution from the Code of Canon Law on the Holy See official website
  • Catholic Encyclopedia "hierarchy" article
    • Barry, Rev. Msgr. John F (2001). One Faith, One Lord: A Study of Basic Catholic Belief. Gerard F. Baumbach, Ed.D.
      ISBN 0-8215-2207-8
      .