Primacy of the Roman Pontiff


The primacy of the Roman pontiff is the apostolic authority of the Pope (Bishop of Rome), from the Holy See, over the several churches that comprise the Catholic Church in the Latin and Eastern Rites. It is also termed "papal primacy", [1] "primacy of Peter", [2] or "Roman primacy"; [3] one might encounter "Peter in primacy over the universal Church," [4] "Successor of Peter", [5] and other related expressions. The present Eastern Orthodox churches consider that the Bishop of Rome has a mere primacy of honor. Most of them opt to give the primacy of honor to Constantinople's Patriarch instead.