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Peter, a Vicar of Christ
“Bishop of Rome, who, in virtue of his position as successor of St. Peter, is the chief pastor of the whole Church, the Vicar of Christ upon earth.” (http://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/Pope)
This is the description of the person or office of the Catholic pope, the supreme head of the Catholic church.
There is no scriptural support for Peter as the “chief pastor” of Jesus’ church because Jesus claimed that office for Himself (John 10). There is, also, no scriptural support that Peter or any of the other apostles had anything akin to “successors.”
The grain of truth buried within the concept of the papacy that seems to lend credibility to the office is that Peter was a vicar of Christ upon the earth. A vicar is someone who acts as an agent of a greater authority. Peter, by virtue of his position as an appointed apostle of Christ, was a vicar. So were Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Thaddaeus, Matthias (Acts 1), and Paul.
These men were vicars due to statements of Jesus like those in the gospel of John chapters 14-16, statements such as Jn 16:12-15
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
These men were going to be receiving revelation from Jesus via the Holy Spirit and both acting upon that revelation and teaching it to others. They were going to be, in the truest sense of the word, vicars of Christ on earth.
These promises are not made to men alive today, nor did Jesus ever imply that these promises were intended for “succeeding” apostles nor that there would ever be such a thing as a “succeeding” apostle. These words were for the actual apostles that Jesus appointed. Yet, there is a man in Rome who would confer such authority on himself.
Regardless of even these things, it’s easiest to know what kind of tree you’re looking at by examining the fruit that tree produces. When you put the pope, his teachings, and his practices to the test, do they stand the test? If that test is against the New Testament, you'll find that many of his teachings are completely out of step with Christianity.
My advice, then? Don’t listen to me! You read that right. Don’t listen to me or any other person who claims to speak for God. Listen to God. Take up your Bible and examine it. He wrote it for you, and He preserved it through many years for you. Read the gospels and see how unique the office of apostle is. Read Acts to see what the work of the apostles was like. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 Jn 4:1) Stop letting men, from any denomination, distract you from God.
