The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, ...

Any male baptized in the Roman Catholic church is eligible to serve as pope. The conclave is highly secretive, and the candidates do not publicly campaign for the position. The pope is the leader ...

deeply divisive within the Roman Catholic Church, that sought to fundamentally reorient the institution as more liberal and less beholden to its own hierarchy, which he left less White ...