The editors of the National Catholic Reporter tell us what kind of pope the Church needs, in an editorial titled Time for courage from those who have most to lose. They declare:
The best thing the new pope could do is to reclaim the Petrine ministry for what it is: Let him be the bishop of Rome, the first among equals. Our pick for new pope would be the man who embraces the Vatican II call for collegiality and acts on it.
“Vatican II! Vatican II!” is the progressive Catholic’s eternal cry, which I discussed in these pages before. Now what does Vatican II actually say about the pope and the bishops? This, from Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church:
[T]he college or body of bishops has no authority unless it is understood together with the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter as its head. The pope’s power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power.
The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles and gives this apostolic body continued existence, is also the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together with its head the Roman Pontiff and never without this head. This power can be exercised only with the consent of the Roman Pontiff. For our Lord placed Simon alone as the rock and the bearer of the keys of the Church, and made him shepherd of the whole flock; it is evident, however, that the power of binding and loosing, which was given to Peter, was granted also to the college of apostles, joined with their head.
This college, insofar as it is composed of many, expresses the variety and universality of the People of God, but insofar as it is assembled under one head, it expresses the unity of the flock of Christ. In it, the bishops, faithfully recognizing the primacy and pre-eminence of their head, exercise their own authority for the good of their own faithful, and indeed of the whole Church, the Holy Spirit supporting its organic structure and harmony with moderation.
Not what the phrase “first among equals” usually means and definitely not, we can be sure, what NCR‘s editors mean by it. A collegial relation, yes, but not a collegiality within a million miles of kind of the reticent, deferential, detached, stay-at-home papacy the editors want and in support of which they invoke a Council that said nothing, nothing at all, of the sort.
My thanks to my friend William Tighe for the link to Fr. Z’s vexed comments on the editorial, which gave me the idea for the comparison.
March 12th, 2013 | 6:47 pm
The invocation of a spurious, or fictitious, “Vatican II” here on these three satires applies very well to the NCR “line,” which is repeated ad nauseam in a mantra-like fashion by that self-styled “Catholic” publication:
http://www.youtube.com/user/balt221
March 12th, 2013 | 7:29 pm
In quoting LG 22, lets not leave out the first paragraph that frames the quoted passage. Certainly, this balances the centralized and juridical aspects of LG. It seems the council fathers left this issue up in the air, resulting in the tensions today (as shown by this article). Here is the LG 22a:
“Just as in the Gospel, the Lord so disposing, St. Peter and the other apostles constitute one apostolic college, so in a similar way the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are joined together. Indeed, the very ancient practice whereby bishops duly established in all parts of the world were in communion with one another and with the Bishop of Rome in a bond of unity, charity and peace,(23*) and also the councils assembled together,(24*) in which more profound issues were settled in common, (25*) the opinion of the many having been prudently considered,(26*) both of these factors are already an indication of the collegiate character and aspect of the Episcopal order; and the ecumenical councils held in the course of centuries are also manifest proof of that same character. And it is intimated also in the practice, introduced in ancient times, of summoning several bishops to take part in the elevation of the newly elected to the ministry of the high priesthood. Hence, one is constituted a member of the Episcopal body in virtue of sacramental consecration and hierarchical communion with the head and members of the body.”
March 12th, 2013 | 7:36 pm
“First Among Equals”?
Name me a single bishop—Roman Catholic, Orthodox, whatever, take your pick—who comes even close to being the EQUAL of the last six or seven popes.
March 12th, 2013 | 7:45 pm
Paul: I wouldn’t say the paragraph “balances” the parts that follow as if it moderates or negates the strong teaching on the papacy that follows, or even, as your remark on “tensions” suggests, complicates it. That the pope and the other bishops are “joined together” etc. doesn’t explain how they relate or deny the hierarchy the rest of that section of *LG* describes.
March 12th, 2013 | 9:34 pm
The National Schismatic Reporter will not rest until the Catholic Church becomes a replica of the Anglican Communion. Why their editors and staff don’t simply join The Episcopal Church has always been a mystery to me.
March 13th, 2013 | 1:23 am
The Reporter has been condemned, in a way, by the bishop of the diocese in which it’s published. So why do other bishops grant interviews to the publication?
March 13th, 2013 | 3:20 am
Devinicus: because they know full well that Her Holiness Katherine would not brook the sort of dissent that is their normal mode of operation …
March 13th, 2013 | 5:16 am
Today they have a new tactic: we need a Pope who is a thinker and a theologian, because Paul VI was intimidated by modernity, that’s why he did not allow women priests or issue birth control prescriptions. Apparently, NCR was never told about the last two popes.
March 13th, 2013 | 7:47 am
It’s refreshing to have a piece on V II which actually goes back to the texts and reveals what was truly said. The text does not say what “they” say it says, and this exercise can be repeated over and over, on pretty much everything that has been passed on to the gullible by the charlatans like NCR. Contra Paul, above, the inclusion of par. “a” does not change the meaning or impart confusion or tension vs what follows.
The texts always give a much different perspective than the NCR and its ilk. What one sees in them is what we see in the present example–an overarching theme of continuity of Tradition, expressed in more-or-less up to date language, and offering some new priorities or emphases without in any way modifying what is true doctrine.
March 13th, 2013 | 7:59 am
[T]he college or body of bishops has no authority unless it is understood together with the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter as its head.”
“This college, insofar as it is composed of many, expresses the variety and universality of the People of God, but insofar as it is assembled under one head, it expresses the unity of the flock of Christ.”
Paul VI, when he was Cardinal of Milan, recognized tendencies toward episcopalianism, tendencies contradicting exactly what Vatican II actually affirmed concerning the unity of the Church under the Vicar of Christ, before the Second Vatican Council. Thus, before the beginning of Vatican II, the eventual Paul VI proposed that his fellow Caridnals begin the council with an “unanimous a joyful act of homage, fidelity, love and obedience to the
Vicar of Christ.”
Monsignor Luigi Giussani recognized trends toward autonomy within local churches and dioceses the central reason for secularism within the Church. Such trends reflect an extrnisicist view of religiosity–a view of the human person as empty of naturally given relations to God, and consequently, to others and the cosmos. This extrinsicist mentality manifests itself in the mentality that seeks autonomy from the guarantor of the Church’s organic unity and relation to Christ as His body on earth. If we seek autonomy from the beggar of Christ, the servants of the servants of God whose vocation is to point to and signify Christ in every gesture, as every gesture of Christ signified and revealed the Father, thus revealing the human person to himself, we then accept the authority of things far less human.
March 13th, 2013 | 9:55 am
Are these people still around? Does anyone still listen to them? Graying dissidents fading into irrelevance.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact