Ut Unum Sint and Catholic Involvement in Ecumenism

Ecumenical Review, The, April, 2000 by William Henn

Pope John Paul II first observes that only the Catholic Church has claimed to have preserved the "ministry of the successor of the apostle Peter, the bishop of Rome", whose purpose, as servus servorum Dei, is to serve unity -- but which, unfortunately, has sometimes been the cause of what now are painful recollections (para. 88). For these he asks forgiveness. As the ecumenical dialogues progress, there are signs of widespread interest in discussing a ministry of primacy (para. 89).

The pope's point of departure in discussing the origins of this ministry is the historical fact of the martyrdoms of both Peter and Paul in Rome. This gave the local church there the reputation of being "the church of Peter and Paul" (para. 90), the church where these two great apostles gave their ultimate witness to Christ.(12) Peter has an eminent place in the New Testament. Here the encyclical recalls the prominent role of Peter in the first half of Acts and how the gospels of Matthew (16:17-19), Luke (22:31-32) and John (21:15-19) all portray Jesus himself as singling out Peter and personally assigning to him a special role in the church.(13) Noting that Jesus' words in Luke -- and especially in John -- are said within the context of Peter's failure to admit that he knew the Lord, the pope suggests that Peter's ministry within the community originates in a powerful experience of the mercy and forgiveness of God, so much so that his subsequent ministry must be understood as a ministry of mercy. Applying this to the role of a "successor" to Peter, the pope writes: "Associating himself with Peter's threefold profession of love, which corresponds to the earlier threefold denial, his successor knows that he must be a sign of mercy. His is a ministry of mercy, born of an act of Christ's own mercy" (para. 93).

The use of scripture by Ut Unum Sint here seems to follow a pattern common to many of John Paul's encyclicals. There is no claim to "prove" a particular doctrine on the basis of selected scriptural passages. Rather, he uses texts which indicate the special attention paid to Peter by Jesus as a point of departure for a rather personal reflection -- in this case on the fact that Peter's ministry would have been stamped by mercy. The church has a special obligation in every age "to manifest to a world ensnared by its sins and evil designs that, despite everything, God in his mercy can convert hearts to unity and enable them to enter into communion with him" (para. 93). 14 Again there is no pretence of proving that there must be a successor to Peter's ministry. John Paul simply affirms as a matter of Catholic belief that "a ministry in which all the bishops recognize that they are united in Christ and all the faithful find confirmation for their faith ... must continue in the church so that under her sole head, who is Jesus Christ, she may be visibly present in the world as the communion of all his disciples" (para. 97).

Paragraph 94 could be read as an attempt to write a job-description for the ministry of primacy. It must be able to "ensure the communion of all the churches," a task carried out by exercising "vigilance over the handing down of the word, the celebration of the liturgy and the sacraments, the church's mission, discipline and the Christian life". The primate will "recall the requirements of the common good of the church, should anyone be tempted to overlook it in the pursuit of personal interests". At times he may have to declare "that this or that opinion being circulated is irreconcilable with the unity of the faith" or even, under carefully specified conditions, to "declare ex cathedra that a certain doctrine belongs to the deposit of the faith". But all this "must always be done in communion" (paras 94-95). Finally, he asks: