It's Wednesday, August 30, 2023. I'm Albert Molar, and this is The Briefing, a daily

analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. When you look at the papacy, the Roman

Catholic Church, you are looking as a Protestant at a great big problem. Indeed, the very existence

of the papacy became one of the key issues in the great controversy known as the Reformation

of the 16th century. But in order to understand that you have to step back and say that the

claims made for the papacy are often lost, actually, on many Catholics, as well as opposed

by historic Protestants. But sometimes it's the Pope's themselves who seem to be the authors

of confusion about their own office, about Roman Catholic doctrine, and indeed the judgment

of the Roman Catholic Church on matters. And this does matter to more than Roman Catholics

for a number of reasons. Number one, because the influence of the Roman Catholic Church

in the world is massive. And as you're looking at a secular world and a larger world picture

when they think of Christianity, an enormous number just assume that the pontiff of the Roman

Catholic Church speaks for Christianity. So it's a practical problem. Another big issue

for evangelicals is recognizing that patterns of theological argument that may appear

first in Roman Catholic circles, even in the Vatican, they may well be signs of arguments

coming of which we need to be aware, or patterns that we ought to detect. In the case of recent

comments made by Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church, a big issue. Indeed, a set of

issues comes to the fore. First of all, the question of doctrine and doctrinal change.

In the theological system of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope has the supreme role as guardian

of the Christian faith, according to their definition. It is he who is the central figure.

Indeed, he is the ruler of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a monarchial role. And thus,

as you're looking at the Curia, and that means the entire structure of the Vatican, when

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