I also wanted to add another point, irrespective of what I posted above. When Matthias was appointed as an apostle, there was some very specific criteria he had to fulfill:

Quote
Act 1:21-22, ESV. "So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us--one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection."

Paul, the 13th apostle by the Lord's grace, saw the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, and was later taken up into heaven, receiving direct revelation from the Lord (2. Cor. 12), thus fulfilling apostolic qualifications.

Unless is can be undeniably proven that every Pope and bishop throughout history has fulfilled these qualifications themselves, a task completely absurd even in its stating, then the Roman Catholic church has some 'splaining to do.

(Latin phrase goes here.)