“‘Feed my sheep’ (Jn. 21) to whom [St. Peter] He [Christ] also gave over the power of loosing as even binding, saying: ‘whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.’ (Matt. 16) And such granted power is handed over not only to St. Peter, but also to his successors, holding in the Church his succession, from God the power of binding and loosing.”  Pope Benedict VI, Epistola ad Fredericum Salibergensem episcopum