Now you say that scripture does not mention the pope or the catholic (or Catholic) church. You are quite right, those words are not used.
In that other pair of threads, it's pointed out that the word "Trinity" doesn't exist in the Bible either, but that doesn't mean the Bible does not teach the existence of the Trinity. Well, the Bible not specifically mentioning the Catholic Church or the Pope falls into a similar category, although not of the same order because theology and ecclesiology are not the same thing. But the analogy is still there. The Bible gives the foundation upon which we can perceive the other things, but with caution: because without proper guidance, one can easily misinterpret the Bible, as St. Peter warns us regarding how people even in his own time misinterpreted the writings of St. Paul. So we should not be alarmed to see confusion still present.
Also, the Ethiopian eunuch asked how he could possibly understand the Scriptures without someone to help him. By the way, he received Baptism from the apostle who was miraculously transported to him.
It never ceases to amaze, and sadden me how so many Christian ecclesial assemblies and Protestant preachers and lay people disdain any interpretive authority when it comes to scripture above themselves. I have met very few Protestants, at least educated ones, who reject the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, yet:
"Sacred tradition is the very Church; without the Sacred Tradition the Church does not exist. Those who deny the Sacred Tradition deny the Church and the preaching of the Apostles.
Before the writing of the Holy Scriptures, that is, of the sacred texts of the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles, and before they were spread to the churches of the world, the Church was based on Sacred Tradition…. The holy texts are in relation to Sacred Tradition what the part is to the whole.
The Church Fathers regard Sacred Tradition as the safe guide in the interpretation of Holy Scripture and absolutely necessary for understanding the truths contained in the Holy Scripture. The Church received many traditions from the Apostles…. The constitution of the church services, especially of the Divine Liturgy, the holy Mysteria themselves and the manner of performing them, certain prayers and other institutions of the Church go back to the Sacred Tradition of the Apostles.
In their conferences, the Holy Synods draw not only from Holy Scriptures, but also from Sacred Tradition as from a pure fount. Thus, the Seventh Ecumenical Synod says in the 8th Decree: “If one violates any part of the Church Tradition, either written or unwritten, let him be anathema.”" +Nektarios of Aegina
Thus:
"Also, always ask the Church, and she, with her great experience and her victory over falsehood, will tell you what is the truth. For you are of yesterday, but the Church is from time immemorial. Your understanding is less than that of the Church" St. Nicolai Velimirovic