Vatican City:
With the death of Pope Francis on Monday, the cardinals of the world now go to Rome to choose a successor. So what exactly does a pope do?
Here is an overview of the most important responsibilities of the Pontiff, the head of the global Catholic Church.
Catholic leader
The word pope comes from the Greek “daddy”, which means “father, patriarch”, and therefore believers call him the holy father.
He is considered the successor to St. Peter, to whom Jesus Christ is told that he has entrusted the mission to lead the church.
Nowadays this makes the Pope the spiritual guide of the estimated 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.
His role is to preserve, interpret and teach the Christian faith, as well as guaranteeing the unity of the Catholic Church.
Head of state
The pope is head of state and also ruler of the small Vatican city state, the smallest in the world on just 44 hectares, located in the Italian capital of Rome.
He exercises absolute power in all areas, from hiring and shooting to decisions about the extensive real estate portfolio of the Vatican, but he delegates many decisions to senior clergy.
The pope has his own diplomats, but often meets world leaders in the Vatican, in what is known as a private audience.
Moral guide
The pope has a lot of influence over the Catholics of the world, as a prominent moral voice on the global stage.
Many non-Catholic leaders are looking for an audience in the Vatican, while his statements often have more weight than those of many chosen politicians.
The Vatican has a non-member observer status at the United Nations and is often called as a neutral party in conflict zones.
Doctrin and Education
Because of his homilies and written texts, Pope Francis gave guidelines on everything, from daily life – for example insistently against gossip – to heavy teachings.
He published various encyclical, open letters written by the Pope to the church worldwide, with topics such as social friendship or climate change.
Other formal texts include apostolic incentives, which are documents, and the Motu Proprio, which means “through his own motion” and is a legal change that is delivered in the Pope’s initiative.
During his time as a Pope, Francis paved the way for the blessing of couples of the same sex, limited the use of the Latin mass and took measures to combat sexual abuse of children through clergy, among other things.
Dates
The Pope approves the appointment of bishops, the approximately 3,000 clergymen who lead Catholic dioceses around the world, and also cardinals.
Cardinals, sometimes known as princes of the church, are the oldest clergy and who can vote younger than 80 in the election of a new pope.
The pope also has the last word when he raises individuals to become “blessed” or an “saint”, according to an investigation that is conducted on the basis of miracles and virtues.
He has the power to come together Synodes – worldwide meetings that Francis opened for the first time for laymen – to discuss specific issues.
Travel
The pope travels to make contact with believers around the world.
John Paul II carried out the most apostolic journeys and had 104 visits abroad in 26 years as a pope.
Francis followed with 47, with the help of the visits to shine a spotlight on marginalized communities or problems he wanted to emphasize, such as migration or inter -religious dialogue.
Bishop of Rome
As a bishop of Rome, the Pope is responsible for the administration of his diocese. The restrictions on its time mean that this is in fact delegated to a vicar general.
However, the pope participates in local events and regularly visits churches in Rome for parties or other symbolic locations in the city.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
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