News
Hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, this webinar was part of a series occurring in the lead-up to the WCC Faith and Order World Conference under the theme "Where Now for Visible Unity?”
The webinar featured a presentation of the study document The Bishop of Rome. Primacy and Synodality in the Ecumenical Dialogues and in the Responses to the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint, and the process behind it, along with a series of responses, and then questions from the audience.
One of the longstanding issues dividing churches is the role of the Bishop of Rome in service to Christian unity. In 1995, Pope John Paul II addressed this question in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint, calling on church leaders and theologians to discern together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome could be exercised as a “service of love recognized by all concerned.”
In 2020, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity marked the 25th anniversary of Ut Unum Sint as an opportunity to resume and deepen this discussion considering responses to the Encyclical and theological dialogue documents. This process culminated in the publication of the study document, which was introduced in the webinar.
As moderator of the discussion, Prof. Dr Catherine E. Clifford, observed: “One of the longstanding issues among the Christian churches concerns the role of the bishops of Rome in fostering unity.”
Rev. Prof. Dr. Juan Usma Gomez, from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, introduced the document, and its complex—yet structured— approach. "We find biblical, traditional, patristic, canonical, historical, doctrinal, ecumenical, and spiritual approaches,” he said, adding that the text is an academic one.
“For this reason, we must admit, it may be difficult to read,” he said. “Nonetheless, it is the result of a genuine dialogue between churches and peoples of all the continents.”
Rev. Prof. Dr. Hyacinthe Destivelle, also from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, outlined some dichotomies and distinctions in the document, and the effect ecumenical dialogues have had on its development. He summarized five specific dichotomies, saying: “These are five dichotomies that the ecumenical reflections on primacy have made it possible to relativize or even to overcome.”
Prof. Dr Eve Tibbs, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, offered the first of three responses, engaging in highlighting both areas of convergence as well as divergence. Tibbs also opened by saying: “Now, I begin by acknowledging the constructive gestures made by His Holiness Pope Francis, whose health for which we all continue to pray.”
Prof Dr Nicholas Sagovsky spoke from the perceptive of the Anglican communion, noting that this discussion is occurring as the Anglican communion awaits appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The question to be pursued in the dialogue, it seems to me, is how can the ministry of the bishop of Rome be truly subsidiary, truly supportive, and held in reserve for the most difficult situations, not only for Catholic churches but for the ecumenical communion of all the church?”
Prof. Dr Elizabeth Newman, responding from the Baptist tradition, noting that historical reality, while it does not lead to agreement about a ministry of primacy, nonetheless provides a point of unity.
“The study document invites us to see the question of primacy for the church not only as a problem but as an opportunity,” she said. “These relations are understood differently.”
As online questions poured in from across the globe, moderator Clifford noted the spirit of the questions was one that was collectively seeking unity. “The questions are pointing to the urgency and the necessity of a common witness given the contemporary global context of polarization and divisions,” she said.
