Q:

Does Catholicism teach that the Pope is God?

I am non-denominational. I have a couple Catholic friends and one of them told me that the Pope is God. Remembering what I heard about the Catholic religion, I corrected him and said that he was at most merely God's representative, and at least a fellow believer. My friend told me again the Pope is God, so this made me slightly confused. As I remember, Catholics believe the Pope is just God's representative on Earth. Am I wrong?

A:

Your friend is confused. Very confused. The Pope is not God according to any official Catholic teaching.
Catholics believe a lot of things about the Pope including his ability so speak infallibly (see ex cathedra) and that his role is that of an authoritative representative of God (see vicar of Christ). They believe a lot of things about the Pope that Protestants and others disagree with, but they do not believe he is God. Official doctrinal statements do not include such a thing and historically they never have.

A:

The pope is not God, and the Catholic Church does not teach that he is, only that he represents God on earth. However, your friend may have learnt this from the history of Pope Alexander VI, arguably one of the worst of the popes. Russel Chamberlin, in The Bad Popes, page 173, says that at his coronation, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgio) committed the blasphemy of having triumphal arches proclaim: "Rome was great under Caesar but even greater far under Alexander.  The first was only a mortal – the second is a God."

