Through history many have rebelled
against the contents and teachings
of faith. Not few of them do so
sinking into the dynamic of
temptation. What is that? It is easy
to find the answer: It is the
presentation of an apparent good as
the goal. It can be seen at work
with the snake and Eve, where she
fails. It can also be seen in the
Demon's action and our Lord. In
these second example He succeeds
putting in evidence the root of
evil. Today, once more, we can see
the Ministry of Peter questioned,
showing the "mystery of iniquity" in
action. Ideologies and rationalism
are a clumsy excuse and they can
really hide nothing. Whoever keeps
the living memory of the Church and
is aware of what is going on in the
world these days, can see the events
as they really are.
That has is showed by a recent and
illuminating document of the Vatican
Congregation that Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger presides: "Considerations
of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of Faith (CDF) in connection with
the records of the symposium on the
'The Primacy of the Successor of
Peter in the Mystery of the
Church'."
Message
"The Catholic Church is aware of
having preserved, with fidelity to
the Apostolic Tradition and the
faith of the Fathers the ministry of
Peter's Successor", the Pope has
pointed out. "In the history of the
Church, there is a continuity of
doctrinal development on the
primacy", highlights the document of
the CDF. The ecclesiastic community
has received, conserved and
transmitted the "what Christ said
about Peter and his role in the
group of the Twelve. Thus, in the
early Christian communities, as
later throughout the Church, the
image of Peter remained fixed as
that of the Apostle who, despite his
human weakness, was expressly
assigned by Christ to the first
place among the Twelve and was
called to exercise a distinctive,
specific task in the Church. He is
the rock on which Christ will build
his Church; he is the one, after he
has been converted, whose faith will
not fail and who will strengthen his
brethren; lastly, he is the Shepherd
who will lead the whole community of
the Lord's disciples".
Novelty?
The believer well enlightened in his
faith knows well that this is the
way it has been, it is and it will
be. The Pope is the rock on which
our Lord Jesus establishes the
Church and with the force of the
Holy Spirit develops it in history,
completing the task of prolonging
it's mission as Mystic Body of
Christ. Saint Peter is the founder
of the Christian community of Rome
and his first Bishop. The Popes are
Peter's successors. The CDF
considers helpful to remember this
great reality in face of the
forgetfulness or confusion of some:
"In Peter's person, mission and
ministry, in his presence and death
in Rome - attested by the most
ancient literary and archaeological
tradition - the Church sees a deeper
reality essentially related to her
own mystery of communion and
salvation: 'Ubi Petrus, ibi ergo
Ecclesia'". The People of God
always, and with intensifying more
clarity, understands that the
service to the unit in the faith
that was entrusted to Peter and his
successors, the Popes, belongs to
the perennial structure of the
universal Church born of Our Lord's
side. It also knows very well that
the gift of the succession in the
Petrine Ministry and of his
universal primate is linked to the
place of his martyrdom: Rome. The
Pope, Bishop of Rome, is today like
yesterday Peter. We should remember
the origin of the this truth: "You
are Peter."
Complementarity
As well as Saint Peter was part of
the Apostolic College presiding
effectively over it, the Pope,
Bishop of Rome, successor of the
Rock, successor of Peter, belongs to
the Body of the Bishops and presides
over it. The Shepherds, in communion
with the Roman Pontiff and under
him, as successor of Peter, have
under their responsibility to keep
the faith and to proclaim the Gospel
to all creatures. Primate and
collegiality are not opposed, they
are complementary. Bishops and the
other faithful are not opposed, they
are complementary in God's design of
his Church. This way, the essential
mission of preserving the faith and
of evangelizing invites and reaches
the rest of the Church, it reaches
the other faithful, whom with their
prayers and cooperation to the
motions of the Holy Spirit, each one
according to his own condition, are
called to carry out the mission that
the Church received from God.
Primate
The Pope by divine institution is
successor of Saint Peter as servant
of the universal Church, as Primate
responsible for the care of the
whole People of God. This way, the
Pontiff has, because of the mission
he received, total, supreme and
universal authority on the whole
Church. This Petrine Ministry is not
only external, but rather it is
inscribed in the heart of each
portion of the Church. From there it
opens up to the ministry of unity.
The title with which the Pope is
known: "Servant of the servants of
God" is a beautifully proclamation
of the gift made by the Most High to
his Church in the Petrine Ministry.
This
newspaper article was first
published on November 11th 1998, and
has been translated from Spanish.
The author has not looked over the
translation.
