Day 123: The Pope (2026)
5/3/202617 min
Who is the Pope? Today, we focus on the role of the Pope in the Catholic Church as the Vicar of Christ and pastor of the entire Church. The Catechism teaches us that the institution of the papacy dates back to that powerful moment in the Gospel when Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, the “rock”, and handed him the keys of the Church. Fr. Mike unpacks this pivotal moment and helps us understand why the Pope is so foundational to the Faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 880-887.
This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB.
For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy
Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMike Schmitz· Host0:00
[gentle music] Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Catechism in a Year Podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In three hundred and sixty-five days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together to our heavenly home. It is day one hundred and twenty-three. Congratulations for making it to today. [laughs] We're reading paragraphs eight-eighty to eight-eighty-seven. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith Approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, you can download your own Catechism in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com/ciy. And I know that there are those of you who have successfully resisted up to this point, but [laughs] if you'd like to finally give in, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. It is day one hundred and twenty-three. We're reading paragraphs eight-eighty to eight-eighty-seven, talking about the episcopal college and its head, the pope. So remember yesterday, we talked about, um, presbyterate refers to the priesthood, right? Episcopacy, episcopacy refers to the bishops. So the episcopal college, also we talked about colleges, right? Not like a university, but [laughs] has a collegial character. There's this commonality than the-- and a unity that is given to the bishops. They have a college, right? There is the episcopal college, which refers to