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Article: Stress on papal primacy led to exaggerated clout for a pope among equals. (part 3)(Upon the Rock - Future of the Papacy)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- October 24, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This is the third of 11 articles exploring the future of the papacy. The essays, edited by Gary MacEoin, will be expanded and published as a book, The Papacy and the People of God, by Orbis Books, in the near future.
I am amazed that whenever I explain the theological limits to papal power the same question arises: "If the pope does not have a direct line to God, who does?" This is linked with the assumption that pope and church are coterminous and that everything the pope says is absolute law for "good Catholics."
Popular perceptions are not theology, but they do give us access to the way in which belief and doctrine are understood by most people. ...