 Christ established the papacy to look after the Church’s welfare. Priests administered the sacraments under the supervision of the pope and the bishops. Orders came via the apostles but jurisdiction via Peter, Christ’s vicar. It was the responsibility of his successors, the popes, to build up the Church. Bishops legislated for their diocese or province, but the pope acted for the whole Church. Vitoria expressed great respect for general councils as gatherings of bishops, but he maintained that a council did not have power superior to that of the pope. Moreover, after considering the councils of the fifteenth century, which had resolved the Great Western Schism (1378–1417), he denied conciliarism in its dogmatic form. The most ancient councils had not claimed that supreme power was invested in the Church.