CV NEWS FEED // The Vatican has just released a lengthy study document on the ecumenical and synodal dialogues regarding papal primacy.
The Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity released the text titled, “The Bishop of Rome,” on June 13. Notably, it is the first Vatican document on the subject of papal primacy since Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical, Ut Unum Sint, or “On commitment to Ecumenism,” in 1995.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Ut Unum Sint “[emphasizes] the importance of increasing unity and communion between non-Catholic Christians and the Catholic Church.”
Following the release of “The Bishop of Rome,” the Dicastery’s Prefect, Cardinal Kurt Koch, explained that the document is a summary of “recent ecumenical developments on the theme of primacy and synodality,” during an interview with the Vatican Dicastery for Communication’s Editorial Director, Andrea Tornielli.
Cardinal Koch also stated that the Dicastery had seen the 25th anniversary of Ut Unum Sint in 2020 as an appropriate time to “take stock of the discussion.” The convocation of last October’s Synod on Synodality further “confirmed the relevance” of the document as a contribution to the synod’s ecumenical discussions.
In general, the document provides updated responses to questions regarding papal primacy that arose following the first and second Vatican Councils, as well as John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical.
The document also notes advances in ecumenical dialogue, and suggestions for future ministry aimed towards a reunited Church.
A central topic addressed by the text is the historic debate surrounding papal infallibility. The document particularly asserts the need for an updated interpretation of Vatican I teaching on papal infallibility when speaking ex cathedra.
Cardinal Koch said that dogmatic definitions promulgated by Vatican I were “profoundly conditioned by historical circumstances,” and that the aim of the recent text is encourage dialogue that “seek[s] new expressions and vocabulary faithful to the original intention,” of the Council’s teachings that are adapted to the “current cultural and ecumenical context.”
The end of the study document includes a proposal for a Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery, “Towards an Exercise of the Primacy in the 21st Century,” which identifies the main points regarding ecumenical dialogue contained in the document.
Cardinal Koch stated, quoting John Paul II, that the Dicastery “thus hope[s] to continue the discussion, ‘together of course,’ for an exercise of the ministry of unity of the Bishop of Rome ‘recognised by one another.’”
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