As the Universal Church prepares to enter a worldwide synodal experience next month, Pope Francis has invited the participation of all the baptized. I would like to focus in this column on how synodality can contribute to the wider ecumenical conversation. In particular, I would like to focus on the ongoing discussion that has been taking place among Roman Catholic and Christian theologians, since the Second Vatican Council, on the all-important issues of synodality and papal primacy.
It was really Pope John Paul II who invited in his 1995 encyclical on ecumenism, “Ut Unum Sint,” the “pastors and theologians” of churches and ecclesial communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church to give suggestions as to how papal primacy could be reformed in order to contribute to Christian unity.
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission issued a statement on the ministry of the Bishop of Rome as early as 1976. In part it stated, “Unlike many other churches of the Reformation, the Anglican Church has never abandoned a possible role for the Roman primacy, so long as the ministry of the Bishop of Rome is rightly understood, interpreted and implemented. The ministry of the Bishop of Rome should not be an obstacle, but rather should function as a possible instrument of ultimate Christian unity. … A de facto recognition of the historic papal ministry already exists within the Anglican Communion, which has consistently maintained throughout her history that the Roman Pontiff possesses a station of ‘primas inter pares,’ ‘first amongst equals,’ a primacy of honor and reverence, though not of jurisdiction or personal infallibility.”
Ever since 2007, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has been discussing papal primacy. The commission eventually issued what has come to be known as the “Declaration of Ravenna” on the topic of papal primacy. Orthodox theologians acknowledge that they believe that the Bishop of Rome has primacy among the bishops of the world as expressed in the teachings of the First Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D.
In 2008, a document on “The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium,” issued by the commission continued the discussion, saying, “Catholics and Orthodox agree that, from apostolic times, the Church of Rome has been recognized as the first among the local Churches, both in the East and West.” Theologians from both sides of the dialogue agree that “the position of the Bishop of Rome among the bishops was understood in terms of the position of Peter among the apostles … the East tended rather to understand each bishop as the successor of all the apostles, including Peter.”
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, hailed the upcoming synod as “the most important contribution” in the ongoing dialogue with other Christian churches, most especially the Orthodox. He said, “This synod will not only be an important event in the Catholic Church, but it will contain a significant message, since synodality is an issue that also moves ecumenism, and moves it in depth.” It will add significantly to the ongoing discussion of papal primacy and the role of the Bishop of Rome in a unified Church.
He pointed out that in the “Declaration of Ravenna,” theologians from both sides of the dialogue agreed that the Bishop of Rome is the “protos,” or first among the Patriarchs of the Church. He explained that “the fact that the two dialogue partners were able to declare together for the first time that the Church is structured synodally at all levels and therefore also at the universal level, and that she needs a protos is an important milestone in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.” He added, “It is not about a compromise on the lowest common denominator. Rather, the respective strengths of the two ecclesial communities should be brought in.”
Synodality as a basis for ecumenical dialogue is a true blessing to the work of Christian unity, according to Cardinal Koch. He explained that “the strengthening of synodality must undoubtedly be considered as the most important contribution that the Catholic Church can make to the ecumenical recognition of [papal] primacy.” For the Orthodox, according to Cardinal Koch, “we can instead expect that, in ecumenical dialogue, they will come to recognize that [papal] primacy at the universal level is not only possible and theologically legitimate, but also necessary.”
This service of the Bishop of Rome for Catholics and Orthodox, according to Cardinal Koch, shows the need for a “ministry of unity also at the universal level of the Church.” He added, “We Catholics consider the primacy of the Bishop of Rome as a gift from the Lord to his Church and, therefore, also an offering to all of Christianity on the path of rediscovering unity and life in unity.”
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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