by

His Most Eminent Reverend Cardinal

Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

"PETER’S PRIMACY"

From the Holy See, March 28^th 2003

Servus servorum Dei! The expression used by Pope Gregory Magnus defines the inseparability of Peter’s sacra potestas from the ministry of Peter’s successor: service. It’s origins are to be found in God’s multiform compassion and in it the words of the Lord, the head of the Church, echo: "I am in the midst of you as he that serves" (Luke 22,27). The Chair cannot be separated from the pastoral staff, because Christ, Teacher and Lord, came to us as the Good Shepherd (see John 10, 1-18).

This truth can introduce the initial meditation of this seventeenth international theological video-conference which will discuss the subject of: "Peter’s Primacy".

Peter’s is a ministry of mercy, created in Christ’s compassion; it is a gift of divine love for His Church. "Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these?(…) Feed my lambs" (John 21, 15-19). Peter received the task of feeding the flock in a triple profession of love that corresponds to his triple betrayal: Peter’s weakness proves that the Church is founded upon God’s infinitely merciful power of love (see Mt 16,17; 2 Cor 12,7-10).

The primacy of service within mercy, entrusted to Peter, is founded on the words spoken by Christ Himself, the way they came to us in the evangelical traditions (Mt 16, 17-19; Lk 22, 31-32). They are remembered, among the Fathers of the Church by Saint Ignacio of Antiochus when he states that the Supreme Pontiff "presides the universal community of love" (Ad Romanos, Proemio), and by Saint Ambrose who referring to the Universal Pastor’s mission to take care of the common good of the entire Church and the good of the particular individual churches, defined the Pope as "the Vicar of Christ’s love" (Expositio in Luke, book X).

The Catholic Church is aware that it preserves the ministry of the successor to the Apostle Peter, the Bishop of Rome, which God has constituted as the "perpetual and visible principle and foundation of the unity" (Lumen gentium, 23) and that the Spirit supports him so that all mankind may participate in this fundamental privilege.

Let us remember that the Bishop of Rome, as Peter’s successor, by divine institution holds within the Church a supreme, full, immediate and universal power for the good of the Church and all mankind. This was stated by the First Vatican Council (see Cost. Pastor aeternus, DS nn. 3053-3064), and repeated by the Second Vatican Council (see Decr. Christus Dominus, 12), faithfully following the Tradition and all the Magisterial Teachings of the Church.

This, under various aspects, will be commented on during this international conference by the Theologians who have been invited to speak and to whom I address my heartfelt thanks. The speeches, we remind you, will take place with a live link-up from ten countries in the five continents. Meditations will take place from Rome, from the premises of the Congregation for the Clergy, by Professor Georges Cottier, theologian for the Papal House, by Professor Jean Galot and by Professor Bruno Forte. There will also be speeches from New York by Professor Michael Hull, from Manila by Professor José Vidamor Yu; from Taipei-Taiwan by Professor Louis Aldrich, from Johannesburg by Professor Stuart Bate OMI, from Bogotà by Professor Silvio Cajiao, from Munich H.E. Professor Gerhard Ludwig Müller, from Sydney by Professor Gary Dewery, from Madrid by Professor Alfonso Carrasco, and from Moscow Professor Bogdan Sewerynik.

I wish you all good listening.