Vatican document suggests new look at papal primacy

June 13, 2024

In an important new “study document” released on June 13 by the Dicastery for Christian Unity, the Vatican has proposed a new consideration of the role of the Roman Pontiff.

The document, building on the results of ecumenical discussions, takes up the challenge that Pope John Paul II issued in Ut Unum Sint, to find ways in which papal primacy could more effectively serve the cause of Christian Unity. The text urges participants in ecumenical discussion to look to the roots of the Petrine ministry, “to avoid anachronistic projections of later doctrinal developments and to consider afresh the role of Peter among the apostles.”

The Vatican dicastery recognizes that the definitions of papal primacy issued by the First Vatican Council “are a significant obstacle for other Christians.” But the document expresses optimism that a more careful look at those texts could “clarify wording of the dogma of infallibility and even to agree on certain aspects of its purpose, recognizing the need, in some circumstances, for a personal exercise of the teaching ministry, given that Christian unity is a unity in truth and love.”

In introducing the new document, Cardinal Kurt Koch, the prefecty of the Dicastery of Christian Unity, voices the same optimism:

The question of primacy for the whole Church, and in particular of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, is no longer seen only as a problem, but rather as an opportunity for a common reflection on the nature of the Church and its mission in the world.

In Ut Unum Sint, Pope John Paul II suggested looking back to the exercise of papal primacy in the first Christian millennium. The new Vatican document agrees that some characteristics of the early papacy have been “identified as points of reference and sources of inspiration for the acceptable exercise of a ministry of unity at the universal level.” But the text also cautions: “If the history of the first millennium is ‘decisive,’ the first millennium should nevertheless not be idealized.” The Christian world was not fully united during that full millennium, the Vatican notes, and the Church today cannot ignore the developments of the second Christian millennium.

The lengthy (133-page) document concludes with a few practical suggestions:”…a Catholic ‘re-reception’, ‘re-interpretation’, ‘official interpretation’, ‘updated commentary’ or even ‘rewording’ of the teachings of Vatican I.”

• ”… a clearer distinction be made between the different responsibilities of the Bishop of Rome, especially between his patriarchal ministry in the Church of the West and his primatial ministry of unity in the communion of Churches.”
• ”…the development of synodality within the Catholic Church. In particular, further reflection on the authority of national and regional Catholic bishops’ conferences, their relationship with the Synod of Bishops and with the Roman Curia.”

Cardinal Koch remarked: “The primacy must be exercised in a synodal way, and synodality requires primacy.”

 

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Further information:

• "The Bishop of Rome" – A new document of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity
• The Bishop of Rome, servant of unity (Vatican News)