The role of the Bishop of Rome in ecumenical dialogue

By Jean-Charles Putzolu

The study document of the Dicastery for Christian Unity “The Bishop of Rome” was presented for the first time on June 13, 2024 in its Italian version. The release of the French edition, published by Cerf, provided a platform for Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant representatives involved in the Synod to engage in a discussion on the primacy of the Successor of Peter.

Based on Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint, the document prepared by experts from the Dicastery with the support of around fifty people consultantsbrings together almost all the texts of the ecumenical dialogue of the last thirty years concerning primacy, focusing particularly on the role of the Bishop of Rome in the path towards unity. The Dominican theologian Hyacinthe Destivelle, director of the Œcumenicum of the Angelicum University of Rome), coordinated the project. He wanted this collection to be useful to those working on this issue, particularly in light of the 25th anniversary of the encyclical of Saint John Paul II, and to renew his invitation to all Christians and religious leaders to reflect on the possible forms of exercise of the Petrine ministry. as a service of love recognized by all.

Primacy and synodality

At first glance, perhaps too hastily, primacy and synodality seem contradictory terms. However, progress in ecumenical dialogue now makes them almost inseparable.

According to Father Destivelle, one of the surprises in the compilation of the fifty documents used to write the synthesis presented Thursday evening in Rome is that there is a convergence in all the dialogues and responses to Ut Unum Sint on the need for a universal ministry of unity. , therefore a certain form of primacy.

Reverend Anne Cathy Graber, without claiming to speak on behalf of all Protestant churches, confirmed this trend, emphasizing that they do indeed feel a structural deficiency in terms of global representation. The Mennonite nun stressed that “the choice of diversity” is “a fundamental characteristic of Protestantism”.

Brother Alois, former Prior of Taizé, whose community experiences ecumenism and diversity daily, explained that “the Pope is a brother who confirms me, and as a community, we need confirmation.”

Taizé, as Brother Alois, a Catholic, explains, recognizes “a real communion with the Bishop of Rome without formally belonging to the Catholic Church”. And if the Roman Pontiff, who has regularly received the priors of Taizé in audience since Paul VI, “confirms” the community, “he is not the only one to do so. We have also received this confirmation from Patriarch Bartholomew”.

Learn from each other

Metropolitan Job of Pisidia considers the Synod as a time of mutual learning, beyond the fact that the event is above all a time of listening. “We must all learn to make the Church more synodal and to reflect on the practice of primacy, on the meaning of this charism, which means being first among all.”

He also underlined the link between primacy and synodality: “If we say that the Orthodox are the champions of synodality and the Catholics the champions of primacy, we separate primacy and synodality, when the two must go hand in hand.”

So what form should primacy take? The round table highlighted a form of convergence around the Successor of Peter. Mgr. Paul Rouhanna, auxiliary bishop of Joubbé for the Maronites, spoke of the union with Rome of the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches of the world and of “the difficulty of aligning the Church of the East with a post-Tridentine ecclesiology, where the The bishop of Rome exercises universal jurisdiction over both Latins and Orientals.

The Lebanese bishop expressed the desire of the Eastern Churches to “restore a certain autonomy within the Catholic communion. There are measures to be taken gradually.” He also stressed that the example of the Eastern Catholic Churches could be important for dialogue with the Orthodox.

Father Destivelle noted that “it will undoubtedly be necessary to distinguish the functions of the Pope, who is at the same time bishop of Rome, head of the Latin Church, and therefore primate of the Western Church, but also in the service of the communion of Churches.

This is precisely one of the suggestions of the document “The Bishop of Rome”: to reflect on this distinction so that the Bishop of Rome can truly serve the communion of Churches, with his different role within the Catholic Church and in his service to the Catholic Church. communion of Churches in general.

Primacy and communion

Primacy is at the service of communion, continued the Dominican, “and the two are inseparable”. These are not two competing principles but “mutually constitutive”. In the same way, “both serve the communion between primacy and synodality”.

The value of the document “The Bishop of Rome” lies precisely in placing synodality in a broader context, offering a very broad understanding of synodality as an articulation of three major dimensions of the Church: one, the small number and the multitude – the primacy of the one, collegiality of the few and community dimension of the “many”. Thus, if synodality is understood in this way, “it necessarily integrates primacy, but also collegiality and the community dimension, making it possible to understand synodality as a dynamic rather than as a principle to be balanced with primacy”.

The role played by popes in promoting ecumenical dialogue

How recent popes have presented themselves has played a key role in advancing ecumenical dialogue. Anne Cathy Graber recalls John Paul II’s apologies in Ut Unum Sint: “For what we are responsible for, I ask forgiveness, as my predecessor Paul VI did.” The Mennonite pastor believes that many things became possible after this declaration, such as the significant rapprochement between Catholics and Lutherans.

The first words of Pope Francis, on the evening of his election on March 13, 2013, before giving his blessing, were: “You know that the task of the Conclave was to give Rome a bishop. (…) The diocesan community of Rome has its bishop. Francis did not present himself as pope, but as bishop of Rome.

“It is because he is bishop of Rome that he is bishop of the Church which presides in charity, according to the expression of Ignatius of Antioch, and it is therefore this Church which is called to play this particular role of unity for all. churches and the Christian communion as a whole,” explained Father Hyacinthe Destivelle. “The Pope, as Bishop of Rome, is therefore called to this particular service of unity, which we Catholics believe is part of the essence of his ministry.”

From this perspective, a new form of exercise of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome before full unity would even be possible. Orthodox Patriarch Job of Pisidia recognized this, and Father Destivelle believes that “this is already what we are experiencing.”