Priests Bishops Cardinals and Popes

Authority and Ministry.
In Acts 6 we are shown there are two classes of people ministering in the Body of white: those ministering Spiritually (who to not to get involved with the things of the world) and those who look after the daily needs of the Body (deacons) by this freeing the other people to wait on God continually.
God detailed those who were to meet the spiritual needs, into five categories:

Apostles: Church planters
Prophets: Guides to the Body (The Kingdom of God)
Evangelists: Those teaching, preaching and demonstrating The Kingdom, for the purposes of extending The Kingdom of God.
Pastors: Those meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of The Body
Teachers: Those teaching The Body about The Kingdom and what God requires them to do to live at citizens of The Kingdom.

Bishops and elders are really pastors.
Note also that to some degree all are to be able to teach, preach and demonstrate The kingdom of God and that God will always give you what gifts you ned to do what He desires you to do (1 Pet 3:15).
God did not ordain Cardinals or Popes as ministers in The Body. These are man made positions as they are not in the Bible and are really not necessary for the Body to function spiritually, being really for administrative purposes.
A person holding both spiritual and administrative positions will have difficulty doing both roles properly.
Priests
The only priests Mentioned in The New Testament (apart from those in The Temple and Melchizedek) are the Citizens of the Kingdom of God. To make a priest a specialist role is Biblically incorrect.
The only High Priest mentioned in The New Testament is Jesus and He is the only one mentioned as mediating for us.  He has not delegated this role to anyone else so any person saying they are mediating between God and man is in error and is contradicting what The Bible says.
This also applies to Mary, the Saints or anyone else. These cannot mediate for us as Jesus has not delegated to them the authority to do and no one else can delegate that authority on His behalf.
Clergy/laity
The danger of a clergy/laity system is that you could end up like the Nicolaitans.
What, were and still are Nicolaitans?
The root of the word Nicolaitans comes from Greek ‘nikao’, to conquer or overcome, and ‘laos’, which means people and which the word laity comes from. The two words together mean ‘to overcome or rule the people’ and refers to the earliest form of what we call a priestly order or clergy which later on in church history divided people and allowed for leadership other than that of the Holy Spirit. A good translation of Nicolaitan would be “those who prevail over the people”
These leaders destroyed the flat structure of the Body of Christ where each person is directly answerable to Jesus and not to another, replacing Jesus as its bishop (1 Pet 2:25).
Spiritual authority over another in the Body of Christ is only for the purposes of helping them in their spiritual life and even then it is not control type authority but a servant type serving the spiritual needs of the person.  This true authority lasts only as long as Jesus wants you to minister to that person: to guide them, help them mature, to meet any of their needs you need to or to teach them what Jesus desires them to be taught.
Ministry is the expression of God’s love in you to another and to express it any other way than helping them because Jesus has asked you to is to take over the role of Jesus and declare you know what is best for a person.  We serve Jesus and out of love for Him and others we minister too (serve others on His behalf).
To take authority over the physical side of a person is wrong unless Jesus appoints you as steward over them (such as the husband has over his family in a marriage). Physical authority is really legal authority which God has set up laws in the land to guide and control this area.
Father
Be careful whom you call your spiritual Father. Jesus said we only have one spiritual Farther and He is in heaven (Matt 23: 9). There is nothing wrong with calling any one father as a term of endearment but not for the purposes of Spiritual provision.
Authority and Headship
In Eph 5 and 1Pet 2:25 we are told Jesus is the Head of the Body (church) and Bishop of our souls (the people in The Body).
At the Time these were written there was no church structure at we know it as there were only local groups meeting in houses. The church being written about was the Body!
As the modern church structure is man made and as long as it passes the two tests there is no problem with the way they organise it, They can control they want to as long as it does not fail a part of the second test.
The moment they take spiritual authority over a person, replacing Jesus as the person’s spiritual Bishop they are in error according to 1 Pet 2:25 and fail the second test.  The moment they impose rules on people without their permission they fail the Law of Love and thus the second test..
So what is the role of bishops, cardinals and Popes?
Whatever the denomination or church says it is providing it does not:

Cause people to break the Law of Love,
Displace Jesus as Lord or mediator in their life, or
Cause people to fall into Idolatry.

The five-fold does not apply to the organised church which is man structured and is run by man so these fivefold roles are often not found in the organised Western church or Churches elsewhere based on western denominational or church type structure.  The fivefold  ministries is found where the Holy Spirit leads, empowers, guides and teaches The Kingdom.  This does not in traditional denominations that are reformation based where The Spirit is not taught as personal and active in a realistic way so that The Kingdom is promoted.
The Body
The Head of The Body is Jesus. It is organised and administered by The Holy Spirit. The role of the five-fold is not to control but to mentor people and help them deal with their problems so they will mature into the Character of Jesus.
Leaders in the Body are proven as Christians and lead by example of life and wisdom in God and His things and not because they are authorised by a denomination or Church.
The fivefold are gifts by God to serve and not  rule and people are appointed to these positions as a reward by God for services rendered and not chosen according to man’s principles or training!
One must not confuse roles in the denomination or church, which are designed to preserve the denomination or church as structure, with roles in The Body, which are designed to help people to mature as Christians, fight and destroy the works of Satan as well as to expand the Kingdom of God!