"He Gave Them Power and Authority"

What authority does the pope have and why should we obey? How is the papacy, which is still a stumbling block for so many, a source of reassurance for us, the faithful? Or is it? What of the bishop’s authority? The priest’s? A living thing needs to grow and authority is at the service of that. It makes the Church—–Christ’s body—grow (augere) in accord with the order established by the one who brought it forth (the Auctor). It is in the image of the Father's authority who shows it by generating the Son, then by creating the world in Him. Christ who received all authority from the Father handed it to the disciples. To have the “keys” to the Church, then, is to assure and guard the presence of the One who builds and grows it—“the Son of the Living God”—so that He might be with us always, till the end of time.