I've been thinking a lot about power and authority, as one does nowadays. It's the meta-topic in many of the Catholic ecclesial struggles nowadays, of course. I don't think anyone would dispute that, but it's odd how little it is actually mentioned specifically. Maybe it's not odd. Maybe the principles are simply assumed for the most part. Today I looked up the Latin for "authority", specifically the Vulgate word used in the Luke 20:2 passage , which has been on my mind. Here's the passage -- the pronoun refers to Jesus: One day as he was teaching the people in the temple area and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and scribes, together with the elders, approached him 2 and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is the one who gave you this authority?” The Latin word used i n the Vulgate is " potestas " et aiunt dicentes ad illum dic nobis in qua potestate haec facis ...