Earlier this month, Pope Francis reinstated the ancient, honorary pontifical title of “Patriarch of the West” to the 2024 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook. Honorary titles such as this given to the pope are centuries old. They include: Vicar of Jesus Christ; Successor of the Prince of the Apostles; Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church; Primate of Italy; Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Rome; Sovereign of the Vatican City State, and Servant of the Servants of God.
I remember when, in March 2006, Pope Benedict XVI abolished the title “Patriarch of the West,” claiming it was an unclear title. It was explained by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity that the title “over history, has become obsolete and practically unusable. It seems pointless, then, to insist on maintaining it.”
The council further explained, “The title ‘Patriarch of the West’ was adopted in the year 642AD by Pope Theodore. Thereafter, it appeared only occasionally and did not have a clear meaning. It flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the context of a general increase in the pope’s titles and appeared for the first time in the ‘Annuario Pontificio’ in 1863.” The council added that the abandonment of the title “clearly does not alter in any way the recognition of the ancient patriarchal Churches, so solemnly declared by Vatican Council II. The renouncement of this title aims to express historical and theological reality, and at the same time … could prove useful to ecumenical dialogue.”
From ancient times, the Bishop of Rome was one of the patriarchs that made up the Pentarchy, which comprised those areas of the Church governed by the bishops of the five major episcopal Sees of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. While Pope Francis did not explain the reason for his returning the title, many scholars contend that it was to strengthen, not weaken, the unity of the Church. With the pope’s desire to refashion the trajectory of the Church as synodal, it may very well be another move toward a more synodal Church. Synodality teaches a more communio-ecclesiology, which perceives the Church as a community of churches, and the Church Constitution Lumen Gentium (from the documents of the Second Vatican Council) honors the ancient patriarchates. Perhaps Pope Francis, who almost exclusively refers to himself and the Petrine Ministry as “Bishop of Rome,” wants papal ministry to be in the circle of the patriarchs entrusted with the care of the Church. In this, he is exercising his ministry of bridge-builder and source of unity for the whole Church.
Following the 2006 decision to remove the title, many in the ecumenical community and Orthodox churches were perplexed and dismayed. Some Orthodox observers interpreted the abandonment of the papal title as an assertion of universal authority over the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs. The Orthodox Church does not recognize the Bishop of Rome as possessing universal jurisdiction over all Christians. It is, however, moving steadily toward the acknowledgement of the need, if not desire, that the Bishop of Rome exercise a role of primacy. A primacy to be defined in the future that may be able to serve the whole Church. In this capacity, the Bishop of Rome would serve the Church in times of theological or ecclesiastical divides by exercising his primacy in order to safeguard the unity, truth, harmony and Catholicity of Christ’s Church.
Nikos Tzoitis, an analyst in the press office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and former spokesperson for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, said he believed that this move by Pope Francis “is part of the rediscovery of confraternity” with the East. “In this way, he wants to emphasize the importance of the lost synodality in the Lord’s Church, which expresses his Body and has synodality as a tool.”
In this Easter season, and in anticipation of a common date for Easter next year, we would do well to meditate on Pope Francis’ words from a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, when he said, “We need to believe that, just as the stone before the tomb was cast aside, so, too, every obstacle to our full communion will also be removed!”
Father Joseph D. Wallace is diocesan director of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs and pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish, Atco.
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