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Our Lord founded the Church on the weakness — but also on the fidelity — of a few men, the Apostles, to whom he promised the constant assistance of the Holy Spirit. Let us read again the well-known text, which is ever new and up-to-date. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.

The preaching of the Gospel does not arise in Palestine through the personal initiative of a few fervent individuals. What could the Apostles do? They were nothing in their time. From a human point of view they were neither rich nor learned, nor heroes. Jesus places on the shoulders of a handful of disciples an immense, divine task: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Through two thousand years of history, the apostolic succession has been preserved in the Church. The bishops, declares the Council of Trent, have succeeded in the place of the Apostles and are placed, as the Apostle (Paul) himself says, by the Holy Spirit to rule the Church of God (Acts 20:28). And, among the Apostles, Christ himself made Simon the object of special attention. You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church! I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.

Peter moves to Rome and there establishes the see of primacy of the Vicar of Christ. For this reason it is in Rome that the apostolic succession is seen most clearly. And for this reason Rome is called the apostolic see by antonomasia. The First Vatican Council proclaimed, with the words of a prior council, that of Florence: All the faithful of Christ must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff possess primacy over the whole world, and that the same Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and true vicar of Jesus Christ, and head of all the Church, and father and teacher of all Christians; and that to him was given by Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the person of blessed Peter, full power to feed, rule and govern the universal Church.

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