Collegiality

COLLEGIALITY IN THE CHURCH

POPE JOHN PAUL II
THE SUPPRESSION OF COLLEGIALITY
by John R. Connolly

The Second Vatican Council reintroduced the notion of collegiality, a notion that is deeply rooted in the Catholic Tradition. The principle of collegiality states that the pope together with the bishops govern the church, thus, acknowledging the special teaching authority of the bishops. (LG, no. 8). In the 1980's the U.S. bishops exercised their collegial authority in two pastoral letters, The Challenge of Peace, May 3, 1983 and Economic Justice for All, November 13, 1986.

However, even before The Challenge of Peace was finished, Rome summoned representatives of the U.S. Bishops' conference to Rome to discuss the letter with the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. At the meeting, January 18-19, 1983, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, (Benedict XVI) prefect of the congregation at the time, told those gathered that, in his view, national episcopal conferences of bishops as such do not have a mandatum docendi (a mandate to teach), and that the teaching authority of the bishops belongs to the individual bishops or to the universal college of bishops in communion with the pope

POPE FRANCIS ON THE SYNODAL MODEL
A RECOVERY OF COLLEGIALITY
by John R. Connolly

In Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis speaks of the difficulties that episcopal conferences have faced in the recent history of the church. He points out that the second Vatican Council speaks favorably of national bishops’ conferences stating that, “like the ancient patriarchal Churches, episcopal conferences are in a position ‘to contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegial spirit’.” (EG., 32. See De Ecclesia, Constitution on the Church, 23.). However, he goes on to state that this vision for episcopal conferences has not been fully realized because the “juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.” (EG, 32. In a footnote Pope Francis cites Apostolos Suos, AAS 90 (1998), 641-658). Francis points out that, to some extent, the reason that episcopal conferences have not reached their full potential is because the papacy and the central structure of the universal Church have not heard the call to pastoral conversion. (EG, 32.) To this he adds, “Excessive centralization, rather than proving helpful, complicates the Church’s life and her missionary outreach.” (EG, 32).