Under Catholic Canon law (Code of Canon Law, 331), papal authority is:
- “supreme” (i.e., it is the highest authority in the Church; there is no appeal against a proper papal judgment);
- “full” (i.e., popes exercise their authority freely, while the bishops of the world exercise theirs only in union with the pope);
- “immediate” (i.e., popes can intervene directly at all levels of Church jurisdiction);
- and “universal” (i.e., their authority extends over the whole church of Christ).
