An interview on the state of the church … in 999 - imaginary interview with priest in the year 999 on millennium - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 22, 1999 by Richard P. McBrien

A thousand years ago who could possibly have foreseen even one or two of the momentous events and changes -- political, economic, social, scientific and especially religious -- that would take place during the approaching Second Christian Millennium?

To illustrate the point, let's return by some imaginary time machine to the year 999 and listen in on an equally imaginary interview with a diocesan priest of Rome regarding the contemporary state of the Catholic church. Let's imagine further that the interviewer from our own new year of 1999, like many people in the media today, has only a limited knowledge of Catholicism.

Here's how the conversation might have gone. Pertinent historical explanations are enclosed within brackets.

Q. I notice that the reigning pope today, Sylvester II, is French. In fact, he's the first Frenchman ever elected as Vicar of Christ, is he not?

A. I assume you mean our bishop here in Rome. At first, when you said "pope," I wasn't sure. Many bishops other than the bishop of Rome are referred to as popes, and in the East even ordinary priests like myself have that title. After all, it means "father." And by the way, all bishops are vicars of Christ, not just the bishop of Rome.

[The title "pope" was not reserved exclusively to the bishop of Rome until 1073, by Gregory VII. The title "Vicar of Christ" was not reserved to the pope until the mid-12th century, by Eugenius III.]

Q. But wasn't the election of a Frenchman a big surprise? There must have been a significant number of French cardinals and French sympathizers at the conclave. Is that how he managed to receive the necessary two-thirds vote?

A. Cardinals? Conclave? Two-thirds vote? What are you talking about? Sylvester was elected by the clergy and laity of Rome. Well, at least that's the official line, but he was really handpicked by his friend, the German emperor, Otto III.

[It was not until the pontificate of Nicholas II (1058-61) that the right of election was taken away once and for all from the clergy and laity of Rome. At first cardinal-bishops were designated as papal electors. Then, in 1179, Pope Alexander III added cardinal-priests and cardinal-deacons as papal electors and decreed that a two-thirds majority would be necessary for election. The conclave itself, that is, the system of separating the electors from the outside world until after they had elected a new pope did not begin until 1271.]

Q. Do you expect that the new French pope will add appreciably to the number of French bishops in the hierarchy?

A. How would he do that? The bishop of Rome can only nominate bishops for the small neighboring dioceses of Rome. We call them the suburbicarian sees. There are just seven of them. He also influences the appointment of bishops in some other parts of the Italian peninsula, particularly those in the Papal States.

Q. You mean the pope doesn't appoint all the bishops of the world?

A. How and why would he do that? Bishops are elected by their own clergy and laity. That's the way it has been from the earliest centuries of the church. Besides, the pope is the bishop of Rome, not the bishop of the whole church.

[Throughout most of the history of the church, including most of the Second Christian Millennium, bishops have been selected in a great variety of ways. The practice of direct papal appointment of all bishops, however, did not begin until the 19th century.]

Q. Well, couldn't the pope at least stack the Roman curia with French bishops and priests and thereby exercise greater personal control over the universal church? A. Roman curia? What's that?

[The Roman curia was not established until 1588, by Pope Sixtus V.]

Q. Let me try again. At the very least, couldn't this French pope put a distinctly French face on Catholicism by canonizing enormous numbers of French saints?

A. You're still confusing me. You make it sound as if the bishop of Rome were the one who names all the saints. The late Pope John XV canonized a saint just six years ago, but that was the very first time a pope canonized anyone.

[Canonization was not reserved to the pope until 1234, by Gregory IX. Before that, saints were generally "proclaimed" by the Catholic people themselves.]

Q. French or not, at least the pope is infallible, is he not?

A. That's the first I've ever heard of such a thing. "Infallible," you said?

[Papal infallibility was not defined until 1870, at the First Vatican Council.]

Imagine now a similar interview conducted today by a reporter from the year 2999.

Fr. Richard McBrien teaches theology at Notre Dame University.