<P> Three other of the pope 's offices stem directly from his office as bishop of the Church of Rome . As the Latin Church owes its identity and development to its origins in the liturgical , juridical , and theological patrimony of Rome , the bishop of Rome is de facto the patriarch of the Latin Church . According to no less than Pope Benedict XVI , there has been much ' confusion ' between the pope 's primacy as patriarch of the western church and his primacy as first patriarch among equals , that this `` failure to distinguish '' between the roles and responsibilities of these two distinct positions lead in time to the `` extreme centralization of the Catholic Church '' and the schism between East and West . </P>
<P> Three other of the pope 's offices stem directly from his office as bishop of the Church of Rome . As the Latin Church owes its identity and development to its origins in the liturgical , juridical , and theological patrimony of Rome , the bishop of Rome is de facto the patriarch of the Latin Church . According to no less than Pope Benedict XVI , there has been much ' confusion ' between the pope 's primacy as patriarch of the western church and his primacy as first patriarch among equals , that this `` failure to distinguish '' between the roles and responsibilities of these two distinct positions lead in time to the `` extreme centralization of the Catholic Church '' and the schism between East and West . </P>
who held the highest authority in the catholic church
who held the highest authority in the catholic church
the pope
the pope