Remember - I am the Pope! //Vatican Radio

Pope Francis marks 50th anniversary of Synod's institution Vatican Radio

There is a rebellion underway against Pope Francis. The Jesuit is too liberal for conservatives like New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan who warned in a recent letter that "liberal Protestant" churches have suffered great losses by trying to cater to their parishioners.  Conservatives like the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat warn that the Pope is a squishy old liberal who is working to undermine the Church's conservative young guns, among whom he places himself. 
Jesus is reported to have said that Peter is the rock upon which the Church is to be built.  Francis reminded everyone this past week that he, not Timothy Dolan, is the Pope:

“[T]he bishops act as true stewards, interpreters and witnesses of the faith of the whole Church, which [they] must be able carefully to distinguish from often shifting public opinion.” In all this, the Successor to Peter is fundamental. “Finally,” explained Pope Francis, “the synodal process culminates in listening to the Bishop of Rome, called upon to speak authoritatively [It. pronunciare] as ‘Shepherd and Teacher of all Christians’: not on the basis of his personal beliefs, but as the supreme witness of the Faith of the whole Church, the guarantor of the Church’s conformity with and obedience to the will of God, to the Gospel of Christ and the Tradition of the Church.”
The Holy Father went on to explain that the Synod always always acts cum Petro et sub Petro – with Peter and under Peter – a fact that does not constitute a restriction of freedom, but a guarantee of unity. “In fact,” he said, “the Pope is, by the will of the Lord, ‘the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both the bishops and of the faithful’.”

- gwc