PRIMATE
BASIC R.C. BELIEF
A Bishop who has precedence over all bishops in given territory. As Bishop of Rome, the Pope has the primacy over the entire Church.
From FUNDAMENTALS OF CATHOLIC DOGMA, page 303. "The unity both of faith and of communion is guaranteed by the Primacy of the Pope."
Ibid., page 283 (Quote from the (First) Vatican Council). "If anyone denies that in virtue of the decree of Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Blessed Peter has perpetual successors in his Primacy over the Universal Church, let him be anathema. That the primacy is to be perpetuated in the successors of Peter is, indeed, not expressly stated in the words of the promise and conferring of the Primacy by Our Lord but it flows as an inference from the nature and purpose of the Primacy itself. As the function of the Primacy is to preserve the unity and solidarity of the Church; and as the Church, according to the will of her Divine Founder, is to continue substantially unchanged until the end of time for the perpetuation of the work of salvation, the Primacy also must be perpetuated. But Peter, like every other human being, was subject to death, consequently his office must be transmitted to others. The structure of the Church cannot continue without the foundation which supports it: Christ's flock cannot exist without shepherds."