"Early Catholic theology ... uses the word 'apostolic' in a very precise and and strictly limited sense. It is used to designate only that very limited number of sees standing in a special, verifiable, historic relation to the apostles, a relation other sees do not enjoy ... Thus, the catholicity of a see was not measured simply by its size, but by its 'weight', or importance; that importance, however, depended on apostolicity. ...
"... when the Church thus first undertook consciously to define her own nature, i.e., to formulate the 'canon' of her being, was neither an episcopal theology nor indeed a papal theology. It was dual ... the duality ... has nothing to do with later patriarchal theory. ... The more New Rome ... obscured the old idea of the apostolic see in favour of the patriarchal concept, the more Old Rome emphasised the completely different origin and nature of its authority ...
" The majority of the bishops has, from time immemorial in the Chuch, been determined not simply by the externally greater number, but by the 'weight' of the sees."
I wonder what PP Benedikt aka Ratzinger would have said to the event a few days ago in St Giovanni in Laterano:
ReplyDeleteAfter some phne calls a group of (very high church, not to say anglo-catholic) pilgrims to Rome, together with their priests and at least one (of course male) bishop walked in and celebrated hogh mass at the high altar.
A vatican spokesperson quickly commented that this was not allowed and resulted from "mutual misunderstandings"
"A mutual misunderstanding"?! Lies, lies, and more lies---the daily fare in Francis's Vatican.
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