THE SERVICE OF PETER IN THE ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE WITH THE "REFORMED" COMMUNITIES" – THE GIFT OF AUTHORITY

Due to the fact that the College of Bishops is needed for the unity of the Church it must carry within itself the principle of its own unity. This cannot be a purely general principle (the decision of the majority, the delegation of rights to an elected directive group, etc.). Due to the fact that the intimate essence of the episcopate is a personal testimony, the principle of the unity of the episcopate is incarnated in one person. According to the Catholic conception, the personal principle of unity is provided by the Bishop of Rome both originally and its current implementation. As a Bishop he is Peter’s successor, Peter who as the first apostle and the first witness of the resurrection in turn incorporated in his person the unity of the college of the apostles. For a theology of the primacy the characterisation of Peter’s office as an Episcopal mission is of decisive importance, as is the acknowledgement that this is not established by human right but by divine right because it can only be exercised only if bestowed by Christ, in virtue of a charisma personally granted to he who holds it.

Today there are even a number of Protestant theologians who respect the need for a principle of unity within the universal church. This was also recently expressed in a document elaborated within the context of ecumenical dialogue in Germany and entitled "Communio Sanctorum".

As far as the primacy is concerned, the important issue is however whether it is only a question of a sociological functionality or of a fundamental need. The Catholic-theological position is the following: The Primacy of Peter’s Successor is part of the theological nature of the Church itself. The extent of any eventual progress in the ecumenical dialogue will depend on the respect and acknowledgement of this principle in the theology of the "reformed" communities.

The Second Vatican Council in fact confirmed the "teaching about the institution, the perpetuity, the meaning and reason for the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and of his infallible magisterium" (LG, no. 18), and furthermore specified this clarifying the collegial nature of the ecclesiastic hierarchy, in which the primacy and the episcopate are directly linked to each other (LG, no. 22). The teaching of the primacy of the First Vatican Council, formulated in juridical categories, is today placed within the framework of a renewed ecclesiology of communion and reformulated in theological categories of biblical and patristic origins. The infallible and jurisdictional primacy is described as "a permanent and visible source and foundation of unity of faith and communion." (LG, no. 18).

The correlation and dynamic unity of all the members of the Church and of the fundamental principles of the ecclesial constitution are of vital importance (apostolate of lay people: LG, no. 12; episcopate, collegiality of Bishops, presbyters and deacons: LG, no. 22 and following). Regards to the collegial nature of the ecclesiastic hierarchy the Council states specifically that this college, because it includes many, expresses the variety and the universality of God’s people; because it is also united under one single leader, it represents the unity of Christ’s flock. In it, the Bishops, faithfully respecting the Head’s primacy and superiority, exercise their own power for the good of their faithful, and also the good of the whole Church, while the Holy Spirit constantly consolidates its organic structure and its harmony (see LG, no. 22).

(If and how the Roman primacy should be ecclesiologically founded and how the primacy should be in reality exercised without prejudicing the divine rights of the episcopate became a controversial issue between the Western and the Eastern Churches and resulted in the establishment of the Orthodox Churches which consider the doctrine of the Roman Primacy one of the causes of the schism between the East and the West, even though they do not deny that the Roman Church is the "prima sedes" in the communion of the Churches. One important event along the path that resulted in this division, were the controversies with patriarch Fozio during the 9^th Century. The Eastern schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church was then sealed in 1054 (ten fifty four) by reciprocal excommunication. From that moment onwards there have been many attempts at reunification, and among them it is worth mentioning the successful unity in the 1439 Council of Florence (fourteen thirty-nine), a unity that was though later once again questioned by the Eastern Church.)