Primacy and Episcopacy: Doctrinal and Practical Implications

PRIMACY AND EPISCOPACY: DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS T HE collegiality of the bishops and its relation to the papacy, which the Second Vatican Council is generally expected to set out in its constitution on the Church/ presents a twofold aspect and raises a twofold problem . First, the bishops as pastors of their own dioceses " in communion with the Apostolic See " are by divine right the true pastors of their respective flocks, even though the institution of dioceses is part of the organization of the Church, as this has grown in the course of the centuries, and the assignment of a particular diocese to a particular bishop stems from an ecclesiastical decision. Bishops rule their dioceses by their own authority derived from Christ (directly or indirectly); they do so in communion with the Vicar of Christ and successor to Peter; yet the Pope's universal and immediate jurisdiction in the whole Church in no way impairs but rather supposes the bishops' ordinary power over their flocks. The problem here consists in determining and explaining, not merely the co-existence, but the correlation of these two powers. The second aspect of the collegiality of the bishops is their joint responsibility, in union with and under the authority of the Pope, for the mission of the universal Church among all nations. The Pope rules the Catholic Church, not only by himself or with the assistance of his curia, but with the aid of his divinely appointed helpers, the college of the bishops, successor to the college of the Apostles. He does so ordinarily and in common circumstances, when the bishops are dispersed the world over in their dioceses, by their communion with him and their unanimity with him and among them- 'Cf. "Collegium Episcoporurn," in The Cle1·gy Monthly ~5 (1961) 188-85; ibid. ~6 (196~) ~9. PRIMACY AND EPISCOPACY selves in doctrinal teaching and pastoral ruling. He does so in an extraordinary manner when the entire Catholic episcopate meets with him in Council. In both cases, there is no Pope without the college of bishops: the Pope is the head of the episcopal college as Peter was the chief of the apostolic college. And there is no college of bishops without the Pope. Here again the relation between the Pope's proper authority and the authority of the body of the bishops under and with him in the universal Church is not a question of mere coexistence but of mutual inclusion and correlation. All this was accepted and 'lived' doctrine at the time of the First Vatican CounciJ.2 It was considered not merely as 'theology' but as part of the Church's life and doctrine. That Council was expected to set out the doctrine of the relationship between primacy and episcopacy. It is only the historical accident of a war that interrupted the work of the Council before it could propose its teaching on the episcopacy. It could promulgate only its doctrine on the Pope. The Second Vatican Council is now to complete the unfinished task of its predecessor. It is expected to propose to the Catholic world the revealed doctrine of the collegiality of the bishops in its relation to the primacy of the Pope. To the two problems mentioned above the Council is to give the answer of our faith, independently of the various theologies of the episcopacy that may be held by Catholic teachers and authors . And it will do so, it may be anticipated, in keeping with the pastoral purpose of the Council so often and definitely stated by Pope John XXIIV This means to say that we must expect not so much an abstract and theoretical statement about the correlation between papacy and episcopacy as a practical expression in rulings: about the collaboration of the two powers in the pastoral mission of the Church. Doctrine, in fact, is not only proposed i'l conceptual formulations but • Cf. G. Dejaifve, S.J., Pape et eveques au premier concile du Vatican, Paris 1961; and" Primaute et collegialite au premier concile au Vatican" in EEU quoted below n.4. 8 Cf. especially his opening address to the Council, October 11, 196~. 224 P. DELETTER also in a manner of...