WE NEED THE POPE - 1

WE NEED THE POPE       -      I

            The office of the Pope (call it the ‘papacy’) is the oldest and one of the most influential of all historical institutions. The Roman Empire was scarcely born when the first Popes occupied the chair of Peter. When Karol Wojtyla became the 263^rd. pope in 1978, the ‘dynasty’ he represented had outlived not only the Roman and Byzantine empires, but also those of Carolingian Gaul, medieval Germany, Spain, Britain and the Third Reich of Hitler. In the years that followed, John Paul II himself was to play a crucial role in the downfall of the latest of these empires, the Soviet Union. Benedict XVI is the Pontiff (“bridge builder”) between Christ and an empireless world.

Petrine Ministry

            Over the centuries, and especially in the last 150 years, the papacy has become the spiritual centre of the Church, appointing most of the bishops, exercising a watching brief over all the affairs of the Churches, a strict and loving mother in every area that concerns the life and beliefs of Catholics, who believe that Christ gave to Peter a special ministry and the first place among the apostles, desiring that it should continue through Peter’s successors, the bishops of Rome. It is conceivable that the Church of the future might be less centralised, that bishops might once again be chosen by the local Churches, as in the past, or that local canonisations might be celebrated without reference to the Congregation of Rites. But there would always be a Petrine ministry, and the papacy would always remain God’s will and God’s gift to the Church. And papal infallibility would continue to be guaranteed by the Holy Spirit, that in good times and in bad the Church will not fall away from the truth. The gift of infallibility has been exercised extremely rarely in the past 2,000 years. It would be absurd to expect the Pope to pronounce every teaching as infallible. If the Magisterium had to make only infallible statements, it would say very little and would appear to be clinically detached from world affairs. There goes on, as a matter of course, the routine teaching of the Popes and bishops in normal circumstances, i.e. when the survival or integrity of the faith itself is not at stake.

Apostolicity

            Catholics cannot do without the apostolicity of the Pope; that is to say, he is for us what Peter was for the first Christian community. In a concrete, particular, fallible and sinful community, as once among the motley company of the apostles, the Pope is a sign that the truth of God is to be found and will not fail. In order to know how smoothly the papacy fits into our lives, it would be useful to know about Peter and the apostles, about most of whom we know nothing apart from the names. But the apostles were and are, first and foremost, witnesses to the mighty works of God. The Church is built on them, not because they were spiritual geniuses or charismatic speakers, but because in the providence of God they were there when the Man arrived from Nazareth (that “no good” place), took everything away from them and gave them instead power and peace of mind so that they could go merrily to their martyrdom. Their value to us lies precisely that they are like us  -  ordinary and weak human beings,

“Without arms or charm or culture,

Persons of no importance

From an unimportant province

They did as the Spirit bid,

Went forth into a joyless world

Of swords and rhetoric

To bring it joy.” (W.H. Auden)

           

Peter, the “road-runner”

Without rhetorical flourishes, the apostles’ message is that of simple witness to what they know to be the truth. Peter was the leader, which does not mean he was the smartest, the bravest, or the best. The great theological genius of early Christianity was Paul, not Peter, and the disciple whom Jesus loved was John, not Peter. The Peter of the Gospels and the Acts is warm-hearted, eager, a bungler to his friends but a bruiser to his enemies. Peter looked like one who wouldn’t walk away from a fight. When the crunch came at Gethsemane, Peter didn’t walk away, he ran, and so did the others! This was the “rock” on which Christ chose to found his Church.

(to be concluded next week)