Catholic Church > Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales > Working Internationally > The Vatican > The Pope
The Pope is the chief bishop of the Catholic Church. He is head of the College of Bishops and represents their teaching authority.
Christ appointed Peter as head of the Apostles. The bishops are the successors of the Apostles and the Pope is the successor of Peter as the head of the College of bishops. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains why the Church is hierarchical, with the Pope at its head.
552 Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Christ, the "living Stone", thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it.
English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for United Kingdom except Northern Ireland. Copyright © 1994 Geoffrey Chapman / Libreria Editrice Vaticana used with permission
The role of the Pope is explained in the Code of Canon Law
The Pope is the head of the College of bishops. The main task given by Christ to bishops is to teach the Gospel.
Jesus Christ cannot be mistaken about the nature of God and the truth of God's desires for humankind, i.e. he is infallible - he cannot be wrong.
In order to sustain and protect the Church, Christ conferred this infallibility on the people of God and the teaching authority of the Church.
This is part of his promise to us. The teaching authority of the Church is called the Magisterium.
Infallible statements on matters of faith and morals can be made in two ways:
1) by the Pope, as head of the College of bishops
2) by all the bishops together (for example, in an Ecumenical Council)
Only in these ways are these people and their statements infallible.
"Papal Infalliblity" does not mean that the man who is Pope never does anything wrong.