VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The reason the 2024 edition of the Vatican Yearbook reinstated “Patriarch of the West” as one of the pope’s historic titles appears to be a response to concerns expressed by leaders and orthodox theologians.
For months after the publication of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican press service said it had no explanation for the reappearance of the title, which Pope Benedict XVI abandoned in 2006.
But new documents from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity place the change squarely in the middle of a broad debate among all major Christian churches over the papacy and the potential role of the bishop of Rome in a more Christian community. united.
The members of the dicastery proposed “that a clearer distinction be made between the different responsibilities of the Pope, notably between his ministry as head of the Catholic Church and his ministry of unity among all Christians, or more specifically between his ministry patriarchal in the Latin Church. and its primatial ministry in the communion of Churches.”
For the Orthodox, the papal title “Patriarch of the West” is a recognition that its direct jurisdiction does not extend to their traditional territories in the East.
Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Holy See, told reporters on June 13: “The recent reinstatement of the title “Patriarch of the West” among the historical titles of the pope is important , because this title, inherited from the first millennium, testifies to his fraternity with the other patriarchs. »
Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Christian Unity, said that “when Pope Benedict XVI canceled this title and when Pope Francis reintroduced it, they commented” on the reasons why they took this decision. “But I’m convinced that they didn’t want to do anything against anyone, but they both wanted to do something ecumenically respectful.”
Twenty-nine years ago, Saint John Paul II called for ecumenical reflection on how the pope, as bishop of Rome, could exercise his ministry “as a service of love recognized by all.”
Already in 1967, Saint Paul VI recognized that the papacy was “without a doubt the most serious obstacle on the path to ecumenism.”
Following the ecumenical invitation of Saint John Paul II in 1995, studies were carried out, meetings were held and reports were written.
The pace has quickened with the pontificate of Pope Francis and his frequent references to his status as bishop of Rome, his use of an international Council of Cardinals to advise him on governance matters, and his continuing efforts to reform and expand the Synod of bishops and the practice of “synodality”.
Over the past three decades, the Catholic Church’s ecumenical partners have responded to St. John Paul II’s request by questioning things like papal infallibility and claims to universal jurisdiction, but many have also expressed their support in finding an acceptable way for the Bishop of Rome to serve as a point of unity for all Christians.
According to the members of the Dicastery for Christian Unity, there has been “a significant and growing theological convergence” both on the need for a universal figure at the service of Christian unity and that of Churches and Christian communities, including the Catholic Church, learn from each other’s styles and structures in consultation, governance and leadership.
Dicastery staff spent years summarizing the thoughts and published their work June 13 as a “study paper” titled “The Bishop of Rome. Primacy and synodality in ecumenical dialogues and in responses to the encyclical “Ut unum sint”. ” The publication also included a series of proposals entitled “Towards an exercise of primacy in the 21st century”, which were approved in 2021 by the cardinals and bishops members of the dicastery.
Cardinal Koch wrote in the study paper’s preface that Pope Francis approved its publication.
The role a pope might play in a reunited Christian Church obviously involves practical considerations about power and authority and how they are exercised. But for ecumenical dialogues, the primary considerations are tradition – what was the role of the bishop of Rome in the early centuries before Christianity split – and theology, including what and how the Church is -it is different from other types of organizations.
The document approved by the members of the dicastery states that the dialogues “allowed a more in-depth analysis of certain essential ecclesiological themes such as: the existence and interdependence of primacy and synodality at each level of the Church; the understanding of synodality as a fundamental quality of the entire Church.” , including the active participation of all the faithful; and the distinction between collegiality and synodality, that is to say between the shared responsibility of bishops and the shared responsibility of all the baptized.
A crucial issue for many Christians is papal infallibility; in fact, “infallibility” is cited 56 times in the documents released on June 13.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Christ has endowed the pastors of the Church with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charisma takes several forms: The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility by virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and master of all the faithful – who confirms his brothers in the faith – he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine relating to faith or morality. »
Catholic theologians and bishops and others, according to the new documents, have called for “a Catholic ‘reception,’ a ‘reinterpretation,’ an ‘official interpretation,’ an ‘updated commentary,’ or even a ‘restatement’ of the teachings of Vatican I.”, the council held in 1869-70 solemnly proclaimed papal infallibility in certain circumstances.
Highlighting these limited circumstances does not seem enough. For example, the Anglican-Catholic International Commission stated in 1981: “The attribution to the Bishop of Rome of infallibility under certain conditions has tended to give exaggerated importance to all his statements. »
One thing that everyone involved in ecumenical dialogue agrees on, however, is that the unity of early Christian communities was expressed by their leaders and members visiting, praying, and working together. The new documents call for these efforts to continue and expand.
