Why is the pope regarded as the vicar of Jesus Christ?

Answer 1

Because of the section in the Gospel according to Matthew; # [18] And I say also unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. == The Pope is regarded as the vicar of Jesus Christ by those of the Catholic faith and others who agree with their position. The scripture above is in the majority text and has no variant readings whatsoever. In other words, every single manuscript that exists has it.

The issue is not with the above scripture but with its interpretation. It neither names Peter as the vicar of Christ, nor asserts that he will be the spiritual head of the Church. James, the brother of John clearly fulfilled that role in the early days, even though Peter was held in high regard, as James presided over the first church council in Acts 15, while Peter was also present. He thus clearly did not have primacy.

The Catholic position is that the Holy Spirit guides the Church; this is called tradition. It is regarded as important but subordinate to Scripture. Tradition led to the pope becoming the spiritual head of the Church (Christ is the Head). It is well recognized, including by Catholics, that it was only after Constantine that the Bishop of Rome began to assert his primacy which it then traced back to Peter. The Gospel of Matthew was written, as is almost universally acknowledged today, in the first. Thus the issue of the claim of insertion is a myth put forward by anti-Catholics; no reputable Protestant scholar of Srcipture would maintain the insertion viewpoint.

Those who do not agree that the pope is the vicar of Christ simply interpret the scripture passage differently.

Answer 2

Popes were not always known as the vicars of Christ.

• The title “vicar of Peter” was used prominently by Pope Leo I (440-461) and taken up over the next eight centuries.
  
• Pope John VIII (872-882) referred to himself as the vicar of Peter and Paul.
  
• Innocent III (1198-1216) was the first pope to appropriate the title vicar of Christ: “We are the successor of the prince of the Apostles, but we are not his vicar or the vicar of any man or Apostle. we are the vicar of Jesus Christ himself.” Since that time, all Catholic popes have used this title for themselves.