One thing that makes the Catholic Church different from all other Christian denominations is that we have a Pope. The Catholic Church is headed by the Bishop of Rome, whom we hold to be the successor of St. Peter and the holder of a unique office as the “prime minister” or chief steward of Jesus Christ on earth.

When Jesus told Simon, the son of John, “You are Peter (rock) and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” he also told him, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:18-19).

This language of binding and loosing is a Jewish idiom that indicated the authority to make governing decisions that are binding upon others. Jesus gives this authority to all of the Apostles (see Mt 18:18), but he gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter alone. This is significant. In the passage quoted above from Mt 16:18-19, Jesus addresses both Peter singly and the Apostles generally. This distinction is lost in our English translations, because we use the same word “you” to indicate the second person in both singular and plural instances, but in many other languages, including Greek (in which the New Testament was written) and Aramaic (which Jesus would likely have been speaking), there are different words to indicate the singular and plural “you.”

Thus when we look at the Greek text of Matthew we find that Jesus is saying to Simon alone that, “you (singular) are Peter . . . [and] I will give you (singular) the keys,” before saying to the larger group of Apostles, “whatever you (plural) bind on earth will be bound in heaven . . .”

The keys of the kingdom were a sign of office (referenced in Isaiah 22:22) that indicated the position of a steward; someone who had the authority to make governing decisions on behalf of the king. It is clear from the context that Jesus was establishing such an office with Simon, to whom he gives the name (or title) of Peter, which means “rock.” It is a name indicating both strength and stability. Our Lord would go on to tell Peter, “you must strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:32).

This article is not meant to be an apologetic to explain everything that the Catholic Church believes about the pope. Suffice it to say that we believe the office of Peter lives on today in the Bishop of Rome, and that Pope Leo XIV is the 267th person is hold that office.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that:

The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the “rock” of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock . . . This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church’s very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope (CCC 881).

. . . For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered (CCC 882).

This authority has special significance when it comes to the teaching office of the Church, called the “Magisterium” from the Latin word magistra, meaning “teacher.”

It is this Magisterium’s task to preserve God’s people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error . . . To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church’s shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals (CCC 890).

“Infallibility” means “incapable of making error,” and we understand the Church to possess this special charism from God only in a limited sense, i.e., in matters of faith and morals (not in science, economics, politics, or other subjects). This is a special gift bestowed upon the Church by God in order to safeguard the content of Divine Revelation, so that the Christian faithful of all ages may have access to the truths He wished to reveal to us. It is not a guarantee that the Church will always teach the truth in the best, most clear, or most prudent way. But it is a guarantee that the Church will never teach what is false as if it were a truth revealed by God.

While the college of bishops as a whole possesses this teaching authority, and thus the charism of infallibility, the Pope, as the successor of St. Peter, is able to exercise it in a unique way.

The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful — who confirms his brethren in the faith — he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals . . . (CCC 891).

Notice how restrictive and particular this definition is. The Pope is only infallible when he is proclaiming “by a definitive act” (i.e. he is making a definition) something pertaining to faith or morality to “all the faithful” as the “supreme pastor.” In other words, he has to be intentionally proclaiming a teaching to the entire Church ex cathedra (Latin for “from the chair”), as an official act.

While Catholics are called to always have a filial respect for the Pope and we should always give deference to his teachings, Catholics do not believe that everything the Pope says in infallible.

This is a very important thing to realize in a day and age when everything the Pope says in public (and sometimes even in private) gets recorded and broadcast almost instantaneously on social media. Pope Francis had a reputation during his pontificate of saying sometimes confusing things during interviews with the media. His off-the-cuff remarks were often interpreted and reinterpreted in various ways by reporters and online commentators, to the great consternation of the faithful.

Today, Pope Leo XIV is having to deal with the same phenomena. Recently he was asked during an interview what he thought about Cardinal Blase Cupich (archbishop of Chicago) granting an award to Sen. Dick Durbin (a pro-abortion politician). In his diplomatically worded response, the Holy Father mentioned several things that he considered to be contrary to the pro-life attitude Catholics ought to possess, including abortion, the death penalty, and the inhumane treatment of migrants. Media outlets were quick to latch on to the Pope’s remarks and spin them in ways that suited their political purposes, whether left or right.

A few days later, the Pope was similarly asked to opine about President Trump’s use of the National Guard in Chicago. This time the Holy Father simply stated that he preferred not to comment on political situations in the United States. This suggests that Pope Leo has decided to reserve any commentary he may have to prepared statements where he can be more intentional about his language. This is a prudent move, given the fact that people — not just Catholics — take what the Pope has to say very seriously.

Not everything the Pope says or writes carries the same weight. If the Church considered every utterance of the Pope to be infallible, that would be a grave scandal. But we don’t believe that. The Pope is not some Christian version of the oracle of Delphi, prophetically speaking new revelation for each age. Rather, the Pope is a custodian and a teacher, whose job it is to safeguard the faith handed on once for all to the saints (Jude 3).

While the Pope has the ability to teach infallibly, he also has the ability to teach non-infallibly, as an ordinary bishop, priest and theologian. For example, when Pope Benedict XVI published his book, Jesus of Nazareth, he stated very clearly that he wrote it as a theologian, not as the Pope, so it should not to be considered as part of the magisterial teaching of the Church. Suffice it to say, neither should papal tweets or off-the-cuff answers to interview questions be considered magisterial teaching.

But the Pope does have the ability to teach authoritatively when chooses to do so. So how do we know how much weight to give to different papal pronouncements?

I write all of this because today, October 9, Pope Leo XIV has promulgated his first apostolic exhortation entitled Dilexi te (“I have loved you”) on love and charity for the poor. And reports are circulating that he may seen issue his first papal encyclical, rumored to be on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. So what is an apostolic exhortation? What’s an encyclical? And what’s the difference?

The Church has developed ways to signify different levels of authority that may be ascribed to papal documents. An apostolic exhortation is a fairly low-level papal document that is intended to be a reflection upon a particular topic that the pope wishes to share with the Church. They do not contain dogmatic definitions and are not considered to be legislative texts. In other words, they are used as a way for the Pope to say, “Here’s something I’m thinking about and I’d like to share my reflections with you.”

A papal encyclical, on the other hand, is a much weightier document. An encyclical (circular letter) is normally going to be pastoral in nature and, while they do not normally contain new teachings, are used to shed light on existing teachings and are considered part of the Pope’s ordinary magisterial teaching.

The highest ranking form of papal document is an apostolic constitution, which is normally used when the Pope wishes to make a solemn pronouncement on a subject with his full apostolic weight.

You will also sometimes hear of popes issuing documents called motu proprio (Latin for “on his own initiative”). These documents normally address legislative issues and are used to make changes to policies and discipline. They are typically brief and are often accompanied by introductory letters explaining the Holy Father’s reasoning for making the legislative change indicated in the text.

So while we shouldn’t expect to find anything proclaimed infallibly in Pope Leo’s apostolic exhortation, it would be good for us to read it as our spiritual Father’s sharing on a subject near to his heart, which is indeed what it is, and to be open to learning from his reflections.

With that in mind, I invite you to read the full text of Dilexi te on the Vatican website, or if you are short of time, you can read this article from OSV that summarizes the text by offering 12 significant quotes.