In his commentary on the book of Job, Pope St Gregory the Great outlines a distinction between the imposition of power led by will and the testimony of quiet authority led by conscience:

“When Paul says to Titus: ‘Command these things, teach them with all authority’, he is not recommending the domination of power but the force of his disciple’s life. A man teaches with authority what he first practises himself before preaching to others, for when conscience is an obstacle to speech, what is taught is more difficult to accept.”

I am reminded of Pope St Paul VI’s observation that “[m]odern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelli Nuntiandi, 41)