Both the Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claim to possess the true priesthood of God — the divinely authorized power to act in His name, administer sacraments, and govern His Church on earth. Both teach that this authority is not self-conferred but must be received through an unbroken chain of authorization reaching back to Jesus Christ Himself.
This shared emphasis on priesthood authority makes the question of which claim is historically grounded one of the most important theological comparisons a Latter-day Saint can examine. The answer determines whether God's priesthood has been present on earth continuously for two millennia — or whether it vanished entirely for eighteen centuries and had to be reconstituted by angelic visitation in nineteenth-century America.
What Is Priesthood?
In Catholic theology, the priesthood is a sacrament — the Sacrament of Holy Orders — instituted by Christ at the Last Supper when He commanded His Apostles, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). The priesthood is not a personal possession but a participation in the one eternal priesthood of Christ Himself (Hebrews 7:24).
The priesthood exists in three degrees: the episcopate (bishops), the presbyterate (priests), and the diaconate (deacons). Bishops possess the fullness of the sacrament and can ordain others; priests share in the bishop's priesthood and act in persona Christi to celebrate the sacraments; deacons serve in ministry to Word, liturgy, and charity.
The sacramental character of ordination is permanent and indelible — "once a priest, always a priest." Authority is transmitted through the physical laying on of hands in an unbroken chain from the Apostles to the present day. Every Catholic bishop alive today can trace his episcopal lineage to the Apostles through documented ordination records.
In LDS theology, priesthood is defined as "the power and authority of God given to man on earth to act in all things for the salvation of man" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith). It is not a sacrament but rather an authority held personally by individual male members of the Church.
The LDS Church recognizes two priesthood orders: the Aaronic (or Levitical) Priesthood, considered the lesser priesthood associated with temporal ordinances and baptism; and the Melchizedek Priesthood, the greater priesthood encompassing all authority in the Church, including the sealing power exercised in temple ordinances.
All worthy male members ages twelve and older may receive the Aaronic Priesthood, and those eighteen and older the Melchizedek Priesthood. The LDS priesthood is understood not as a sacramental character but as a delegated authority that can be conferred (or revoked) through the laying on of hands by those already holding it. The Church teaches this authority was lost from the earth after the death of the original Apostles and was restored through angelic visitation to Joseph Smith.
The fundamental difference is not merely structural but theological. For the Catholic, priesthood is a sacramental participation in Christ's own eternal priesthood — it does not need periodic restoration because Christ's priesthood is eternal and His Church indefectible. For the Latter-day Saint, priesthood is a delegated authority that was entirely lost from the earth for approximately 1,800 years. The Catholic position requires trust in Christ's promise that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against" His Church (Matthew 16:18). The LDS position requires believing they did prevail — completely — for nearly two millennia.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Dimension | Catholic Church | LDS Church |
|---|---|---|
| Source of Authority | Christ → Apostles → bishops, transmitted sacramentally through laying on of hands for 2,000 years without interruption | Christ → Apostles → [total loss / Great Apostasy] → restored by angelic visitation to Joseph Smith in 1829 |
| Nature of Priesthood | Sacramental character: permanent, indelible participation in Christ's eternal priesthood (Hebrews 7:24) | Delegated authority: conferred and potentially revoked; held personally by individual male members |
| Priesthood Orders | Three degrees within one sacrament: bishop (fullness), priest, deacon | Two separate priesthoods: Aaronic (lesser) and Melchizedek (greater), each with multiple offices |
| Who Holds It | Men who receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders through a validly ordained bishop | All worthy male members beginning at age 12 (Aaronic) and age 18 (Melchizedek) |
| Succession Model | Documented episcopal succession: every bishop ordained by bishops who were ordained by bishops, traceable to the Apostles | Prophetic succession: the senior apostle automatically becomes Church President upon the death of the current President |
| Historical Evidence | Irenaeus lists the bishops of Rome from Peter to his own day (c. AD 180); thousands of ordination records survive across centuries | No contemporaneous documentation of the priesthood restoration exists from 1829; the first recorded mention appears in 1834, five years after the claimed event |
| Duration of Line | ~2,000 years, unbroken: 267 popes from St. Peter to Leo XIV (the current pope), plus thousands of bishops worldwide | ~196 years: 18 Church Presidents from Joseph Smith to Dallin H. Oaks (current) |
| Continuity Claim | Christ promised His Church would endure (Matt. 16:18). The Church has never ceased to exist or to ordain. | Total apostasy occurred after the Apostles died. The Church and its authority were completely absent from the earth until 1829. |
Catholic Apostolic Succession
The Catholic claim to apostolic succession rests on the teaching that Christ entrusted the leadership of His Church to the Apostle Peter ("You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" — Matthew 16:18), and that this authority has been transmitted from bishop to bishop in an unbroken chain for two thousand years. Irenaeus of Lyon, writing around AD 180, already compiled a list of the bishops of Rome stretching from Peter through Linus, Anacletus, and Clement to his own day — and presented this succession as proof against heretical claims.
The early Church Fathers consistently appealed to episcopal succession as a mark of authentic Christian authority. Tertullian (c. AD 200) challenged heretics to produce their own succession lists. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. AD 325) documented the succession in Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria as historical evidence of the Church's continuity.
"It is possible, then, for every Church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the Apostles which has been made known to us throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the Apostles, and their successors to our own times."
c. AD 30–67
Chief of the Apostles; commissioned by Christ (Matt. 16:18–19; John 21:15–17); martyred in Rome under Nero
c. AD 67–76
Chosen by Peter and Paul before their martyrdom (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3)
c. AD 76–88
c. AD 88–99
Author of 1 Clement (c. AD 96), the earliest extra-biblical letter asserting Roman authority over another church (Corinth)
c. AD 99–107
c. AD 107–155
The succession continues without interruption through the sub-apostolic age
c. AD 155–166
Received Polycarp of Smyrna (a disciple of the Apostle John) in Rome
c. AD 189–199
First pope to assert Rome's authority in the Easter controversy
AD 314–335
Bishop during the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) and the reign of Constantine
AD 366–384
Commissioned St. Jerome's Vulgate translation of Scripture
AD 440–461
Defined the two natures of Christ in his Tome; turned back Attila the Hun
AD 590–604
Doctor of the Church; reformed the liturgy and sent missionaries to England
AD 1088–1099
Called the First Crusade
AD 1566–1572
Promulgated the Tridentine Mass and the Catechism of the Council of Trent
AD 1903–1914
Encouraged frequent Communion and lowered the First Communion age
AD 1978–2005
Promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)
AD 2005–2013
AD 2013–2025
AD 2025–present
First American-born pope; elected May 8, 2025; 267th successor of St. Peter
Every one of these 267 popes was a bishop of Rome, ordained by other bishops, in a chain that reaches back to the Apostles. This is not a matter of faith alone: it is documented history, attested by pagan and Christian sources alike from the first centuries onward. No generation lacked bishops. No century was without ordinations. The line never broke.
LDS Prophetic Succession
The Latter-day Saint claim to priesthood authority begins with Joseph Smith's account of angelic visitations restoring the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods in 1829. Since that time, authority has been transmitted through the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with the senior apostle (by length of service in the Quorum) becoming Church President upon the death of the incumbent.
Notably, Joseph Smith himself did not establish a clear succession plan. His death in 1844 triggered a succession crisis in which multiple claimants — Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, James Strang, and the Smith family line — each asserted their own legitimacy. The question was not settled peacefully or unanimously. The resulting schism produced multiple Latter Day Saint denominations, each claiming to be the rightful continuation of Joseph Smith's priesthood.
1830–1844
Founder; killed June 27, 1844 at Carthage, Illinois; left no clear succession plan
3-year interregnum
Competing claims from Brigham Young (Quorum of the Twelve), Sidney Rigdon (First Counselor), James Strang (claimed letter of appointment), Joseph Smith III (lineal succession). Movement fractured permanently.
1847–1877
Led the migration to Utah; not sustained as President until December 1847, over three years after Smith's death
1880–1887
Wounded at Carthage alongside Joseph Smith; died in hiding from federal marshals enforcing anti-polygamy laws
1889–1898
Issued the 1890 Manifesto officially ending polygamy (under federal pressure)
1898–1901
1901–1918
Nephew of Joseph Smith Jr.; seniority rules were changed under Lorenzo Snow to ensure his succession over Brigham Young Jr.
1918–1945
1945–1951
1951–1970
1970–1972
1972–1973
1973–1985
1985–1994
1994–1995
1995–2008
2008–2018
2018–2025
Died September 27, 2025 at age 101
2025–present
Announced as 18th President on October 14, 2025; apostle since 1984
Several features of the LDS succession sequence raise difficulties. The original 1844 succession crisis produced permanent schisms — the Community of Christ (RLDS), the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonites), and numerous other Latter Day Saint factions all claim their own priesthood succession from Joseph Smith. The rules for determining seniority within the Quorum of the Twelve were changed multiple times under Brigham Young and Lorenzo Snow to ensure preferred candidates would succeed. And the entire line depends on the historical reliability of Joseph Smith's priesthood restoration claims — claims that, as we shall see, face serious documentary problems.
Joseph Smith's Priesthood Claims
The foundation of all Latter-day Saint priesthood authority rests on a single claim: that in 1829, angelic beings appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and physically conferred upon them the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods. If this event occurred as described, LDS priesthood claims have a starting point. If it did not — or if it was fabricated or embellished after the fact — then the entire edifice of LDS priesthood authority collapses.
The historical record reveals a striking pattern: there is a significant gap between when these events allegedly occurred and when they were first mentioned. The following timeline documents both the claimed dates of the priesthood restoration events and the dates when they first appear in the documentary record, using LDS-friendly sources including the Joseph Smith Papers, official Church histories, and the observations of early Church members.
Historian Grant Palmer summarized the documentary pattern: "By degrees, the accounts became more detailed and more miraculous… Details usually become blurred over time; in this case, they multiplied and sharpened… The most plausible explanation is that they were retrofitted to an 1829–30 time period to give the impression that an impressive and unique authority had existed in the church from the beginning." Even the LDS Church's own Gospel Topics essay on the Melchizedek Priesthood restoration acknowledges that "during the first few years after the Church was organized, Joseph Smith and other early members of the Church did not use the terms Aaronic Priesthood or Melchizedek Priesthood to describe the authority they received. Their understanding of priesthood developed over time."
What the Early Church Actually Practiced
If the LDS Great Apostasy narrative were true — that the true priesthood was lost from the earth shortly after the death of the original Apostles — we would expect to find the early post-apostolic Church in chaos: conflicting doctrines, no clear leadership, no sacramental authority, and no continuity of practice. Instead, we find precisely the opposite.
The earliest post-apostolic writings reveal a Church that was orderly, hierarchical, and intensely conscious of its priestly succession. These writers were not medieval innovators — many of them were personally taught by the Apostles themselves.
"See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop."
Ignatius was a disciple of the Apostle John. Writing on his way to martyrdom in Rome, he already presupposes a three-fold ministry of bishop, presbyter (priest), and deacon as the normative structure of every local church. This is precisely the Catholic priesthood structure — and it appears within decades of the Apostles' deaths, not centuries later.
"Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect foreknowledge of this, they appointed those already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry."
Clement, the fourth bishop of Rome, writing within the apostolic era itself, describes the principle of succession: the Apostles appointed bishops, and those bishops in turn appointed successors, precisely so that the ministry would continue unbroken. This is apostolic succession described from within the generation of the Apostles — the very generation that the LDS Church claims saw the beginning of the Great Apostasy.
Two Claims, One Conclusion
The Latter-day Saint and the Catholic are asking the same question: Where is God's priesthood authority today? Both agree it matters. Both agree it must come through authorized channels. Both agree that it originates with Christ. The disagreement is whether that authority has been continuously present in the world since Christ — or whether it vanished completely and had to be re-conferred by angels in 1829.
The Catholic claim rests on two thousand years of documented, continuous episcopal succession, supported by pagan and Christian sources from the earliest centuries, attested by Church Fathers who personally knew the Apostles, and confirmed by an unbroken chain of ordination records that reaches from Peter to Leo XIV. It requires no extraordinary interventions because it posits no interruption.
The LDS claim rests on the testimony of two men — Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery — neither of whom mentioned the event for five years after it allegedly occurred, whose earliest documents make no reference to it, whose later accounts grew progressively more detailed over time, and whose published scriptures were retroactively edited to include priesthood language that was not present in the originals. The entire LDS succession — all eighteen presidents, all priesthood authority exercised by millions of members — depends on the reliability of this undocumented 1829 event.
Which requires more faith: to believe that Christ kept His promise that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against His Church, and that the priesthood He conferred on His Apostles has been passed down for two thousand years through the laying on of hands — documented, traceable, and historically attested from the first century to the present?
Or to believe that Christ's Church failed completely, that His priesthood vanished entirely from the earth, and that it was reconstituted in 1829 through an event that left no contemporary documentary trace, was not mentioned by its participants for five years, and was progressively embellished in the retelling?
The Latter-day Saint who takes priesthood authority seriously already has the instincts of a Catholic. The question is whether those instincts are best served by a 196-year-old line that begins with an undocumented angelic visitation — or by a 2,000-year-old line that begins with Christ Himself, speaking to Peter: "Feed my sheep."
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Key Scripture References
- Matthew 16:18–19 — Christ gives Peter the keys of the Kingdom
- John 21:15–17 — "Feed my sheep" — Christ commissions Peter
- Luke 22:19 — "Do this in remembrance of me" — institution of the priesthood
- Hebrews 7:24 — Christ holds His priesthood permanently
- Acts 1:20–26 — Matthias chosen to replace Judas, preserving apostolic succession
- 2 Timothy 1:6 — Paul reminds Timothy of the gift conferred through laying on of hands
- Titus 1:5 — Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders in every town
Patristic & Magisterial Sources
- St. Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 44 (c. AD 96) — apostolic succession and episcopal appointment
- St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8.1 (c. AD 110) — the three-fold ministry
- St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 3.3.1 (c. AD 180) — New Advent
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1536–1600 — The Sacrament of Holy Orders
LDS & Historical Sources
- Joseph Smith Papers, "Priesthood Restoration" — josephsmithpapers.org
- LDS Gospel Topics Essay, "Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood" — ChurchOfJesusChrist.org
- David Whitmer interview with Zenas H. Gurley, January 14, 1885 — Early Mormon Documents, 5:137
- Grant Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Signature Books, 2002), pp. 228–230
- Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet (Signature Books, 2004)
Further Study
The Great Apostasy Claim Apostolic Succession: An Interactive Chart Two Timelines: Catholic Continuity vs. LDS RestorationOne Faith Delivered is a resource for Catholics and those exploring the Catholic faith, with a particular focus on engaging Latter-day Saint theology through historical, scriptural, and patristic evidence. All content is offered in a spirit of scholarly charity and sincere ecumenical dialogue.