So let’s take this one point at a time. 

In Mathew 16:18 Jesus is with desciples and says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

In other words, He appointed Peter as the Head (later called “Bishop” or “Head Bishop” and eventually “Pope”) The pope is actually the head bishop. Later Peter appointed a successor to himself and likewise, he appointed his successor and this position is called the “Seat of Peter” This line of succession is documented from pope (head bishop) to pope (head bishop).  (Click here to see line of succession from Jesus to Peter down to the present pope.)

So by Jesus’ own authority, the pope has the “keys” to the kingdom and he and the rest of the desciples along with whomever they appoint have the authority to forgive or not to forgive sins.

John 20:21-23

21“and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’

22 After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” So Jesus Commanded His desciples telling them he was sending them and he appointed them and breathed the Holy Spirit and told them the authority he was giving them.  He didn’t say it was symbolic or “do this if you think it’s important, no, as the Father sent Him with full authority, He was sending His appointed to do likewise.  Does this mean you can’t be forgiven by God directly and praying to him? Do you have to go to a bishop or their appointed priests? No, but Jesus thought it an important enough gift to leave us because He knew our humanity.  He knew how it would be to hear the words “You are forgiven” just like those the the Word heard it from Himself…The prostitutes, the blind man, lepers and tax collectors. All the pharisees critizised Jesus authority to forgive sins as well but He had that authority and it is in Holy Scripture that He gave the Desciples the authority to do the same for all of us!! He knew He and the Desciples would have limited lifetimes here on earth that’s why He gave the authority to the desciples to annoint others as well…Just as the Father has sent me…I am sending you! What a gift!! He also said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church so we know by the promise of Christ that with all it’s faults, individual sinners, from parishioners to priests, bishops and popes, none of us are worthy by our own merits but by the merits of Jesus Christ and the Holy Church and the Pope Together with the Magesterium is infalable but none of us individually are. The Holy Catholic Church will always stand against the gates of hell!  Jesus proclaimed it.

Some also doubt the Presence of God in the Eucharist and Prescious Blood but Jesus didn’t do this with His desciples just for symbolism.  As a matter of fact, this was such an important event that it was what He did on His last Meal.  The “last supper”

Luke 22:17-20

17 Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you,

18 because from now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.’

19 Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’

20 He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you. Note that Jesus didn’t say that it was his body and blood, ‘well, not really, it’s just symbolic’, no, as a matter of fact there are documented instances where Jesus told followers that unless they eat The Body and drink The Blood, they would not have eternal life.  And many of His followers deserted him.. In the most accurate translations, Jesus says ‘verily, verily I say unto you…unless you eat…’ the word eat literally He knew they being Jewish had rules regarding what is eaten and what is not…what is clean and unclean…blood, kosher… so he reiterated by saying ‘verily verily’ in todays language would be like saying ‘you got this, now? This is exactly what I mean!’ and He followed by using the word ‘eat’ which more closely would be translated to the word ‘munch’ or ‘put in your mouth and grind with your teeth’. So as to tell the followers, ‘yep, you heard me, unless you literally eat & munch on my body and drink my blood…not symbolically but literally!’  That’s why many of his followers left Him because they could not accept this doctrine. Would they now be cannibals? Obviously not. The Lord knew His body would never last for all humanity to eat and so He left us the gift of the Prescious Body & Blood, the Eucharist is what Catholics call it.  He only gave His Desciples the authority to transform bread and wine into blood however, when he commanded them to ‘do this in memory of Me’ and he breathed the Holy Spirit onto them and appointed Peter as the leader. John 6:47-66 47 In all truth I tell you, everyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead; 50 but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ 52 Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 53 Jesus replied to them: In all truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person. 57 As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me. 58 This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever. 59 This is what he taught at Capernaum in the synagogue. 60 After hearing it, many of his followers said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ 61 Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this disturb you? 62 What if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before? 63 ‘It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64 ‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him. 65 He went on, ‘This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.’ 66 After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more.