By Josh Noem

The pope is Catholicism’s central figure, and Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. will touch the lives of Catholics in this nation and beyond. Media coverage of his visit will shape the national dialogue, so here are two things you need to know to sound smart with your friends as you talk about the pope.

The pope is head of the Church.

This sounds self-evident, but there are important ways in which this works.

We cannot speak of the pope without speaking of the Church, and the Church is not an institution at the Vatican, nor is it the hierarchy. The Church is the People of God who have received the Spirit to share in Christ’s mission to build the Kingdom of God in the here and now. We all are the Church—laypeople, ordained, religious—and the hierarchy, including the pope, serves the Church in its mission.

The Church is, at the same time, both local and universal. That is to say that the Body of Christ exists in local churches—dioceses—and that the universal Church is really a communion of these dioceses. So the pope serves the unity of the Church by being the central figure for bishops and the faithful in the 195 dioceses of the U.S. and the more than 2,500 dioceses worldwide.

The pope is the successor of St. Peter, who was set apart from the other disciples by Jesus when he said, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:18-19). (In fact, the papal seal, which you will notice on the Vatican flags and many other symbols surrounding the pope, is comprised of two crossed keys, a reference to this passage.)

Peter served a unifying role from the start—he was a leader who gathered and strengthened others and fed the followers of Christ (Jn 21:15-17). Peter was clearly chosen by Christ to lead his community of followers, and after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension he did this from Rome.

Just as every bishop is a successor to the apostles, the pope’s official role as the successor of Peter is “bishop of Rome.” The pope has authority over the universal Church, but other bishops share that same authority in their leadership of their own local churches. We might think of the pope as the “first among equals”—one of his titles, in fact, is “servant of the servants of God.” Pope Francis is one bishop among many, but one who has a special role to play for the universal Church in addition to his leadership of the church in Rome.

So, while you won’t sound smart by saying that the pope is the head of the Catholic Church (everyone knows that), you will sound smart when you explain how the pope is bishop of Rome as Peter’s successor. Or at least, you’ll be able to explain why there are keys in the papal symbol. Pope Francis visits the United States as the head of the universal Church—this is our chance to encounter him and the wider Church, and for him and the Church to encounter us and our culture, needs, and hopes.

The pope is infallible.

To say the pope is infallible is not to say that everything he states is true. If the pope looks at an orange and declares it to be an apple, he’s just as crazy as anyone else who would do so. The pope only speaks infallibly if he makes an authoritative statement under certain conditions, and Pope Francis almost certainly will not offer a new, infallible teaching during this visit.

The only statements from the pope that are considered infallible are statements that fulfill specific criteria: the pope must be speaking for the Church as a pastor of all Christians; he must be teaching on a doctrine of faith or morals; he must intend to determine a point of doctrine in a final way; and it must be clear that the pope means to bind the whole Church through the statement he is making. The pope can only define a dogma of faith infallibly in close collaboration with other bishops.

In other words, the only infallible statements made by the pope are the ones that nearly everyone already understands as being true. How many infallible teachings have popes proclaimed through the ages? Exactly two—and both are about Mary.

The first was declared in 1854 regarding Mary’s immaculate conception, and the second happened in 1950 when the pope proclaimed Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven. Neither of these teachings turned the world upside-down because their truth had emerged over centuries of prayer and study and devotion—they were already obvious.

Infallibility means “immunity from error,” and it is a gift of the Holy Spirit that protects the Church from error when it proclaims a teaching pertaining to faith or morals. It is a “negative gift” that only ensures that a particular teaching is not wrong. It does not guarantee that the teaching is the best formulation of the truth, and it does not guarantee that teachings cannot be changed and refined.

All of this is not to say that everything else that the Church teaches is optional for belief. Because bishops are the successors to the apostles, and hold the special charge to hand on the faith that they have received in its fullness, all Catholics owe them, and especially the pope, reverent adherence to their teaching. This holds for teachings such as the evil of abortion and euthanasia, the communion of saints, and what is contained in the creed, among other things.

So don’t expect a new teaching, infallible or otherwise, from Pope Francis during his visit—he will be reinforcing the truths that the Church already holds. His unique appeal comes from the new ways in which he is proclaiming those truths with both his words and his actions.

For more specifics about the pope’s visit and what it will mean for the Church, you can read what experts from the University have to say here.