C. Power and Service of Peter

Frequently nowadays, and rightly so, because it is based on Scripture and Tradition, we speak of the mission of the Pope and the bishops as a ministry, as a service. Indeed, they are there to serve. ‘The office which the Lord has committed to the pastors of his people is, in the strict sense of the term, a service, which is called very expressively in Sacred Scripture, a diakonia or ministry.’ One of the titles proper to the Pope himself is ‘servant of the servants of God.’ The term service cannot be understood as a divesting themselves of the authority which is theirs by right, opposing service to power. That would be a most unbiblical and untraditional way of understanding the word ministry.

The Pope and the bishops can only render to the Church the service God wants from them if they exercise their power, which is of divine origin and only they have. If they were not to use their power, they would be unable to serve; they would be of no use. Now all of us Christians ought to serve one another as Christ loved us and served us. But bishops, besides being counted among the faithful themselves, are pastors and must serve their brethren and children through the use of their pastoral power. Such service demands humility (The greatest among you must be your servant, Matt. 31:11) and fortitude (The Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the Church of God, Acts 20:28).

St. Leo the Great, paraphrasing the words of Jesus, put it like this: ‘You are a Rock, Simon. Rather, I am the unshakeable Rock, I am the Cornerstone which unites what was separated. I am the Foundation and no one can lay any other. And yet, you Simon, you also are a Rock because I am going to give you my strength, in such a way that by this sharing, the power which is only mine will be common to you and to me.’

D. Unity: Reason for Primacy

Vatican Council I affirmed that the authority of the Pope, and the resulting obligation to obey him, took in ‘not only matters that pertain to the faith and morals, but also matters that pertain to discipline and government of the Church throughout the whole world.’

It is what we call universal power (applicable, it is clearly understood, to ecclesiastical matters only). The power which the Pope receives from Christ has its own internal statutes and lays upon the successor of St. Peter a very grave moral obligation.

Earlier, I referred to this service on behalf of the unity of the Church. The Pope has a very wide power in order to be able to serve in a supreme way the unity of the Church. He must use his authority whenever it is required and in the way it is required so as to serve the unity of faith and communion in the Church. Not to use it could constitute a serious fault; and to hinder its exercise is to hinder the supreme way which Christ has instituted for keeping his Church one. On the other hand, if the Pope were to intervene with his supreme authority where it was not needed, he would be making use of the power conferred on him by Christ in a way contrary to the meaning of that power which, in the whole Church, is for building up, not pulling down (2 Cor. 10:8) and is 'for us men and for our salvation.’ In the ministry of the Pope to build up and save is to care for the unity of faith and of communion among pastors and faithful.

To be continued