To whom do bishops answer?

by Michael Shackleton · February 8, 2010

I take it that religious priests are accountable to the superior of their order and diocesan priests to their bishops. To whom are bishops and archbishops accountable?

Put another way, your question asks who has legitimate authority over bishops, priests and religious, and where this authority comes from? So let�s go back to the beginning.

Before he ascended, Jesus told his disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. He�told them to go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them and teaching them�everything that he had commanded (Mt 28:18). In charging�Peter and the other apostles to take on the Saviour�s work in the world, Christ�encouraged them by saying: �And know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time.� Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of all authority in the Church.

As they have done through the Church�s long and�stormy history, Peter and the apostles today exercise that authority�in Christ�s name through the�world�s bishops in communion with the bishop of Rome. They�form one college of teaching authority that we call the magisterium and it is their duty to govern the Church, including the approval of religious orders.

Christ told Peter that he would build his church on him (Mt 16:18), and he entrusted�the lambs and sheep of�his flock to Peter to be cared for (Jn 21:15). In so doing he appointed Peter, as Church tradition has always held, as the head of the apostles and of the Church.

In order to be a true successor of the apostles, a bishop must be in communion with the pope and his brother bishops. If he offends in any way, it is the pope who has authority to correct or punish.

Diocesan priests are obliged to show respect and obedience to their proper bishop (canon 273) and religious priests to their particular superior in all matters specific to their�religious order. However,�religious priests who work in pastoral care of souls, public worship and other dioscesan activities are always subject to the local bishop as well (canon 678).

An archbishop or metropolitan bishop presides over a particular province, which is a group of dioceses in a defined territory. He has no authority over these dioceses but if he finds a serious abuse of some kind in any of them, he may investigate and report them to Rome (canon 443).