Here Vitoria states that the bishops who succeeded the apostles could and did name their successors on their own authority, without having recourse to the pope. This is a rejection of the strong view of papal jurisdiction, since it asserts that episcopal jurisdiction can and has existed without having been received from the pope. Vitoria holds that the power of episcopal jurisdiction is received directly from God, citing Ephesians 4 to this effect. That is why Vitoria has always been cited by Catholic theologians as an opponent of the strong view of papal jurisdiction, as appears from the mention of him in the excerpt from the Dictionnaire de théologie catholique given above.
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