Peter the Roman, a.k.a Pope Francis in our midst… Synod operates “not only with Peter, but also under Peter!!”
In his most important address yet to the bishops gathered for the Vatican Synod on the Family, Pope Francis reasserted his authority Saturday, reminding the bishops that the synod operates “not only with Peter, but also under Peter.”
“The synodal path culminates in listening to the Bishop of Rome,” Francis said, who is “called to teach as ‘Pastor and Teacher of all Christians,’ not from his own personal convictions, but as supreme witness of the faith of the whole Church.”
Although the Pope gave a nod to proposals of his
predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI for a rethinking of the exercise of
the papacy, he left no doubt regarding who is calling the shots.
The pope, Francis said, guarantees “the obedience and
the conformity of the Church to the will of God, the Gospel of Christ and the
Church’s tradition.”
“The fact that the synod always operates with Peter
and under Peter—thus, not only with Peter but also under Peter—is not a
limitation of freedom but a guarantee of unity,” Francis said.
“In fact, by the Lord’s will, the pope is the
perpetual and visible sign and foundation of the unity, both of the bishops and
the multitude of the faithful,” he said. So the bishops are united to the
Bishop of Rome through episcopal communion, “and at the same time
hierarchically subject to him as Head of the College,” he added.
At the same time, Francis said, this hierarchy, unlike
that of the powerful of this world, must be understood as an “upside-down
pyramid,” with the vertex at the bottom rather than the top. Those who exercise
authority are called “ministers” because, according to the original meaning of
the word, “they are the smallest of all,” he said.
And just as Jesus washed His disciples’ feet at the
Last Supper, Francis said, “the successor of Peter himself is nothing but the
servant of the servants of God (servus servorum Dei).”
For the disciples of Jesus, Francis insisted, “the
only authority is the authority of service, and the only power is the power of
the cross.”
And so, he continued, in a “synodal Church,” the Pope
“is not by himself above the Church, but within her as a baptized member among
the baptized” and “a bishop among the bishops.”
And yet he is also called as Peter’s successor “to
guide the Church of Rome that presides in love over all the Churches.”
As the Bishop of Rome, I know well that Christ
ardently desires the full and visible communion of all Christians, he said. “I
am convinced that in this, I have a particular responsibility” and must seek “a
way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is
essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation,” he said,
quoting Pope John Paul II.
Despite his forceful reaffirmations of the centrality
of the role of the Pope in the Church, Francis also spoke of a need for greater
“decentralization” and an increased role for ecclesiastical provinces and
regions, special councils, and especially episcopal conferences in the
governance of the Church.
In a synodal Church, he said, “it is not appropriate
for the pope to replace the local episcopates in the discernment of all the
problems that lie ahead in their territories. In this sense, I feel the need to
proceed in a healthy ‘decentralization.’”
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