Alter Christus

In persona Christi is a Latin phrase meaning "in the person of Christ", an important concept in Roman Catholicism and, similarly or in varying degrees, other Christian traditions, such as Lutheranism, Anglicanism, as well as Eastern Orthodoxy. In Catholic theology, a priest is In persona Christi because, in the sacraments he administers, it is God and Christ who acts through the instrumentality of the priest. An extended term, In persona Christi capitis, “in the person of Christ the head,” was expressed by the bishops of the Vatican Council II in the Decree on the Ministry and Live of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, December 7, 1965.