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1. Christ the Lord, Son of the living God, came that He might
save His people from their sins[1] and that all men might be
sanctified. Just as He Himself was sent by the Father, so He also
sent His Apostles.[2] Therefore, He sanctified them,
conferring on them the Holy Spirit, so that they also might glorify
the Father upon earth and save men, "to the building up of the body
of Christ" (Eph. 4:12), which is the Church.
2. In this Church of Christ the Roman pontiff, as the successor
of Peter, to whom Christ entrusted the feeding of His sheep and
lambs, enjoys supreme, full, immediate, and universal authority over
the care of souls by divine institution. Therefore, as pastor of all
the faithful, he is sent to provide for the common good of the
universal Church and for the good of the individual churches. Hence,
he holds a primacy of ordinary power over all the churches.
The bishops themselves, however, having been appointed by the Holy
Spirit, are successors of the Apostles as pastors of souls.[3]
Together with the supreme pontiff and under his authority they are sent
to continue throughout the ages the work of Christ, the eternal
pastor.[4] Christ gave the Apostles and their successors the
command and the power to teach all nations, to hallow men in the
truth, and to feed them. Bishops, therefore, have been made true
and authentic teachers of the faith, pontiffs, and pastors through the
Holy Spirit, who has been given to them.[5]
3. Bishops, sharing in the solicitude for all the churches,
exercise this episcopal office of theirs, which they have received
through episcopal consecration,[6] in communion with and under the
authority of the supreme pontiff. As far as their teaching authority
and pastoral government are concerned, all are united in a college or
body with respect to the universal Church of God.
They exercise this office individually in reference to the portions of
the Lord's flock assigned to them, each one taking care of the
particular church committed to him, or sometimes some of them jointly
providing for certain common needs of various churches.
This sacred synod, therefore, attentive to the conditions of human
association which have brought about a new order of things in our
time,[7] intends to determine more exactly the pastoral office of
bishops and, therefore, has decreed the things that follow.
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