The Pope-Archbishop-Bishop relationship is not the same as the Doctor-Patient relationship and you know it. Your doctor can't excommunicate you.
You guys have some bizarre idea that Rome functions as some divinely-appointed Führer, as if they had only to name the tune and have everyone dance to it in instaneous and perfect obedience.
Hmm, I wonder where we could have gotten that idea from? Maybe from the fact that Catholics are REQUIRED to be in submission to the Bishop of Rome?
The reality on the ground is a bit more complex.
No, not really. It's only complex when the Catholic Apologists try to make it complex in their effort to muddy the waters and hand wave these issues away.
Well, when sites like this put forth statement like this, it's hard to think otherwise!
It has been shown that He conferred on him a primacy over the Church, which is universal in its scope, extending to all the Church's members, and which needs the support of no other power. A primacy such as this manifestly gives to him and to his successors a direct authority over all the faithful. This is also implied in the words of the pastoral commission, "Feed my sheep". The shepherd exercises immediate authority over all the sheep of his flock. Every member of the Church has been thus committed to Peter and those who follow him.
Your doctor -- with some exceptions -- is not required by law to take or keep you as a patient, so yes, as a matter of fact, he can "excommunicate" you.
Maybe from the fact that Catholics are REQUIRED to be in submission to the Bishop of Rome?
And that leads to the idea that the Pope has perfect control over every one of his 1-billion strong flock ... how, exactly?
Ever heard of the concepts of "subsidiarity" and "collegiality"?