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There are two parts to this question.
First part. It treats of grace which befits Christ as head of the
Church (a. 1-6).
The first article considers the meaning of the expression, head of the
Church. Then there is a discussion of the grace of headship as it
extends to men and angels (a. 2-4).
Finally whether to be head of the Church is proper to Christ.
Second part. It concerns the devil and Antichrist. Is the devil
the head of all the wicked? (a. 7.) Can Antichrist be called the
head of all the wicked? (a. 8.)
It must first of all be noted that this whole doctrine has its
foundation in the epistles of St. Paul, in which Christ is often
spoken of as the head of the Church. Christ indeed had already said,
as reported by the Evangelist: "I am the true vine, and My Father
is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He will
take away; and everyone that beareth fruit He will purge it that it
may bring forth more fruit.... I am the vine, you the branches;
He that abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same beareth much fruit;
for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he
shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall
gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he
burneth."[1010]
This same doctrine is developed under another analogy, namely, of the
head and mystical body of Christ, in whom the faithful must gradually
be incorporated, by participating in the hidden life of Christ, His
public life, His sorrowful life, and finally His glorious life. As
St. Paul often says in the following text and in others:
"He[God]... hath made Him[Christ] head over all the
Church, which is His body, and the fullness of Him who is filled
all in all."[1011]
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