St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans ch. 8.1–2 St. Ignatius of Antioch disciple of St. John the Apostle and ordained by St. Peter as the bishop of Antioch talking about the structure of the Church, the so-called monarchial episcopate. Early on among the apostolic churches, they appointed a bishop to be the head of the church and underneath him, subject to the bishop, is a college of presbyterys and underneath them the deacons. This is called the monarchial episcopate St. Ignatius o

On Friday afternoon, Pope Leo XIV presided over the funeral Mass for Cardinal Emil Paul Tscherrig at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Tscherrig, former apostolic nuncio and the first non-Italian nuncio to Italy and San Marino, died Tuesday at the age of 79. Born in Switzerland in 1947 and ordained to the priesthood in 1974, he entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1978 and served in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Argentina, and Europe. Pope Francis created him a card