Highest  Church  leader  is  termed  "supreme (first)  pastor  (minister)"	Highest  Church  leader  is  termed  "leader, shepherd,  guardian,  guide,  and  captain (head)" of  the  entire  Church
Has  nuns	Has  cardinals

Roman Catholic Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

"'The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops...supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Profession of Faith, Section Two, Paragraph 4, Section I, #891. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church4.html#CONSTITUTION).

"Elder Robert H. Pierson is the President of [the] General Conference and, as such the first (or supreme) minister (or pastor) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." (Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Opening Brief for the Defendants, Civil Case #74-2025, p 45, December 4, 1974, parentheses added to show meaning).      "...the leadership of the church, including myself as its first minister for the time being..." (Affidavit of General Conference President Robert H. Pierson, Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR, November 30, 1974).

Roman Catholic Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

“I promise and swear that I will always be not only your helper and supporter, but your chief and leader.” (Pope Pius VII, in Diu Satis (On A Return to Gospel Principles), Encyclical promulgated on May 15, 1800, #10. http://www.geocities.com/papalencyclicals/Pius07/p7diusat.htm).      "...this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate....once the unity of communion and the profession of the same Faith has been preserved with the Roman Pontiff, there is one flock of the Church of Christ under one supreme shepherd." (Pope Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis (On Communism And The Church In China), Encyclical Promulgated on June 29, 1958, #46. http://www.geocities.com/papalencyclicals/Pius12/P12APOST.HTM).      “... the supreme pontiffs....the supreme pastors and teachers of the Church of God, the guardians and interpreters of the patrimony of the faith...” Pope Paul VI, in Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (The Celibacy of the Priest), Encyclical promulgated on June 24, 1967, #36. http://www.geocities.com/papalencyclicals/Paul06/p6sacerd.htm).      “Two months have already passed, months of anxiety and toil, since God conferred on Us, despite Our weakness, the burden of this high office of guiding the entire Church.” (Pope Pius VII, in Diu Satis (On A Return to Gospel Principles), Encyclical promulgated on May 15, 1800. http://www.geocities.com/papalencyclicals/Pius07/p7diusat.htm).      "Catholics hold that the Church, which is a visible society, must have a visible head. Christ before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as his representative...hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church...” (Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly) Bureau of Information, Ind., April 18,1915).      “...'the Roman Pontiff...is the Successor of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles and... the head of the whole Church..." (Pope Pius IX, in Amantissimus (On The Care Of The Churches), Encyclical promulgated on April 8, 1862, # 3. http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P9AMANT2.HTM).

"Many church members would say that the power in the Seventh-day Adventist Church resides with the president...He has authority to decide and act....he does have considerable power....      "He's the spiritual leader of the community of faith....He's shepherd, guardian, guide and captain (or head)." (Walter Scragg, President of the South Pacific Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, in the Record, June 23, 1990, p 4, parentheses added to show meaning).

Roman Catholic Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

“By force of their vocation, which sets them at the heart of the [Catholic] Church, nuns undertake in a special way to have ‘the mind of the Church (sentire cum Ecclesia)’, with sincere adherence to the Magisterium and unreserved obedience to the Pope.” (Verbi Sponsa (Instruction on the Contemplative Life and on the Enclosure of Nuns), Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, Pope John Paul II approved, and released by the Vatican on May 13, 1999. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/documents/rc_con_ccscrlife_doc_13051999_verbi-sponsa_en.html).

“Those who work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church respond to a religious vocation in exactly the same sense as does a cloistered nun.” (Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Opening Brief for the Defendants, Civil Case #74-2025, p 90, December 4, 1974).

Roman Catholic Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

"’The college or body of bishops (or cardinals) has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, as its head.’ As such, this college has ‘supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff.’" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section Two, Paragraph 4, Section I, #883. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church4.html#CONSTITUTION).

“Division and General Conference officers form a critical area of church leadership around the world.  Vice presidents (and you understand that division presidents are first vice presidents of the General Conference) report to the General Conference president.  According to the Bylaws, while they serve a division they are vice presidents of the General Conference...      “If you compare vice presidents to ‘cardinals,’ we already have a ‘cardinal’ from Africa, and before this [1985 General Conference] session ends, I predict we will have two African ‘cardinals’ among our 15 vice-presidents...there is no ‘cardinal’ from all the countries of the Far East, while there will probably be two ‘cardinals’ from Africa.” (General Conference President Neal C. Wilson, in Adventist Review, July 3, 1985, p 11). Please note: since all division presidents are only vice presidents of the General Conference, and as these vice presidents are likened to “cardinals”, then that makes the General Conference president the one supreme leader of the entire Seventh-day Adventist Church–or the pope of Adventism!