The hierarchy of the Church

The Church has a very “shallow” hierarchy that consists of the three ranks of ordained ministers: bishops, priests, and deacons. (See Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1554.)

Relationships of priests and deacons to their ordinaries

Priests and deacons are always members either of a diocese or of a society such as a religious order or congregation. (In technical terms, they are incardinated in that diocese or society; see Can. 265 of the Code of Canon Law [CIC].) Thus, priests and deacons always answer directly to their “ordinary,” who is the bishop, in the case of a diocese, or their major superior, in the other cases. (See CIC Can. 134.) Note that the ordinary of most societies of consecrated life is a presbyter (a priest), not a bishop. (There is a similar situation in the “ordinariates” that have been set up for persons with an Anglican background.)

Relationships of dioceses among themselves

In the Western (Latin) Church, there is very little vertical organization of dioceses. Dioceses are grouped into ecclesiastical provinces. One of these dioceses is called the “archdiocese,” and it exercises a primacy of honor over the other dioceses, which are called “suffragans.” The bishop of an archdiocese has the title of “archbishop” and “metropolitan,” but he exercises no authority outside his own diocese, except in certain very limited cases. (See CIC Can. 435-436.)

The Eastern Churches have an autonomous hierarchy headed by either a patriarch or a major archbishop. (See the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches 56 and 151.) Unlike in the Western Church, the patriarch or major archbishop enjoys ordinary (not delegated) authority over his entire church.

Relationships of dioceses to the Diocese of Rome

All bishops in the Western Church, and all patriarchs and major archbishops, in turn, answer directly to the Bishop of Rome (the pope). All bishops, whatever their rank, form a kind of “college” or assembly, which, however, has no authority except when it is in union with its head the Bishop of Rome. (See CCC 881-882.)

(The same holds true for the ordinaries of the Anglican-use ordinariates; even though they are presbyters, they answer only to the Bishop of Rome. For societies of consecrated life, the situation is more complex: some answer directly to the pope; others, to a local bishop.)

The pope is not, therefore, a “super bishop,” but simply the Bishop of Rome; however, the Bishop of Rome enjoys “full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered” (CCC 882).

It should be noted that the college of cardinals does not enter into the hierarchy as such. The title of “cardinal” technically makes the cardinals members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome and hence gives them an advisory role to the pope. They are also responsible for electing the Bishop of Rome when the Apostolic See is vacant. (See CIC Can. 349.) Although by law, cardinals must be bishops, or must be ordained bishops (Can. 315), the rank of cardinal as such is strictly honorific.

Conferences of bishops are also of an advisory and cooperative nature, and do not enter strictly speaking into the hierarchy. (See CIC Can. 447.)

Is the Pope a CEO?

Decentralized nature of the Church

So, more à propos to the original poster’s question, if one must make a comparison of the Catholic Church to political realities, it should be thought of as a loose confederation of local churches (dioceses and patriarchates), which, however, find their unity in the Church of Rome.

Hence, although the Bishop of Rome does have both doctrinal and disciplinary authority over the entire Catholic Church, it is not his function to run the day-to-day affairs of any diocese but the Diocese of Rome (and, in fact, even the day-to-day affairs of the Diocese of Rome are managed by a vicar, or delegate). Each diocese is expected to manage its own affairs, and only cases that require some kind of special intervention are dealt with in the Holy See.

Scale of the Church

If anyone is imagining the pope as a sort of CEO of the Catholic Church, he is perhaps not aware of the sheer size of the Church: there are currently no less than 3,126 dioceses (including Eastern Rite dioceses, as well as personal and military ordinariates) and 5,309 living bishops (including coadjutor, auxiliary, and retired bishops). Worldwide, as of 2014, there are 414,313 active priests. All of these serve a Catholic population of 1,228,621,000 (according to the 2014 Annuario Pontificio).

Both the scale and the decentralized nature of the Church make it impossible for the pope to be aware of what is happening in a local diocese, unless someone informs him. (It would be similar to asking the President of the United States to oversee the affairs of the city of San Francisco; the sheer number of cities in the United States makes that level of centralization impossible.)

Delegated vs. ordinary authority

Moreover, most companies have a specific goal or objective (some product or service to provide, or perhaps many of them), and so they require a centralized and multi-tiered structure. The Church’s mission, on the other hand, is pastoral and spiritual, and so it is better for it to be run by persons who are “on the ground.” In addition, for most companies the authority structure is delegated by the owner or the board of directors; in the Catholic Church, the authority of bishops over their dioceses is “ordinary,” not delegated.