Hierarchy, Expanded

I said in an article a few weeks ago that Auxiliary Bishops are bishops of their own dioceses; however, the "titular dioceses" these bishops belong to no longer have any jurisdiction over a geographical area or any people.

They are former dioceses that have had their jurisdiction absorbed by other dioceses, expanding or new ones being created due to demographic changes in an area. An auxiliary bishop is not commuting between his titular diocese and the one he is auxiliary for, the titular diocese exists only as a legal entity in church law, it doesn't really physically exist anymore, but because each bishop must have a diocese attached to him, and likewise a diocese may only have one bishop, the Church in its earliest days started using titular sees in order to accommodate more bishops.

Monsignors are priests who have been given a special honorific title to recognize special service or contributions to the Church, and consist of three degrees. After a change made by Pope Francis, new monsignors must be at least 65 years old, and only priests serving at the Vatican are eligible to receive the highest two degrees, while a local bishop may petition the Pope to bestow the lowest degree upon a diocesan priest of his that he deems worthy.

On top of this, the Eastern Churches have their own titles for clergy that are a little different from the Western ranks, but very analogous to them in structure and function. Furthermore, the many religious orders within the Church have their own specialized ranks below bishop. We know the Church has "Fathers", but did you know it has "Mothers" too? You might without even realizing it. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was that: a Mother, the honorific used for the superior general (highest rank) of her religious order, the Missionaries of Charity. Other titles for religious include: Abbot/Abbess, Prior/Prioress, Mother, Brother/Sister, Friar, Novice, and Postulant, among others. Abbots and Abbesses hold a similar authority and stature in the hierarchy to a bishop, so they will sometimes be seen with a crosier (bishop's staff) and pectoral cross (large cross necklace) that a bishop would wear, with abbots wearing the mitre (bishop's hat) too.

There are still even more nuanced and rare ranks within the hierarchy, such as Patriarchs, Primates, Canons, and Vicars, along with all the other titles for jobs within the government of the Church that are independent of rank, but all that would take too long to explain. As you can see, there is a lot of complexity within the hierarchy of the Church, but such is what happens through almost 2000 years of history. The gist of it is, from the top down: the Pope, who is a bishop, to all the bishops of the world, to all the priests who serve under their bishop, to the deacons who assist the priests and faithful.