 He has no direct jurisdiction over the other patriarchs or the other autocephalous Orthodox churches, but he, alone among his fellow primates, enjoys the right of convening extraordinary synods consisting of them or their delegates to deal with "ad hoc" situations and has also convened well-attended pan-Orthodox synods in the last forty years.His unique role often sees the ecumenical patriarch referred to as the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church in some sources, though this is not an official title of the patriarch nor is it usually used in scholarly sources on the patriarchate.The Orthodox Church is entirely decentralized, having no central authority, earthly head or a single bishop in a leadership role, having synodical system canonically, is significantly distinguished from the hierarchically organized Catholic Church whose doctrine is the papal supremacy.