Perspectief 2014-26

2014-26 Towards a Healthy Future of Catholicity in the Roman Catholic Church 51 Reag eer “both of the communion between churches and the collegiality of the bishops rooted in this communion of churches.” 22 Legrand is very much convinced, however, that “the reforms will hurt themselves, at all levels, at the letter and the spirit of the current canon law which has rather disarticulated the relationship between the Roman primacy and the communion of churches.” 23 If the Pope would still be looking for advice in how to reform his Church, Legrand has enough concrete suggestions to make. The pope could exercise his primacy again as a final appeal and does not necessarily have to take care of the daily government of the Catholic Church. The curia could become an instrument at the service of pope and bishops and also be accountable to the bishops, for example on the occasion of a meeting of the synod of bishops. Episcopal conferences at the level of a continent should cease to be merely consultative bodies and could be granted the same role as the ancient patriarchates. It should no longer be necessary to ordain priests as bishops simply because of their administrative or honorary positions. The diocese should finally play a greater role in determining the list of candidates for the episcopate. 24 To my surprise several contributions to the recent issue of the German version of Communio with its thematic focus on Kircheneinheit – Petrusdienst are equally appreciative of the greater attention for intermediary structures in this papacy. Main editor Jan-Heiner Tück has the impression that the pope, “more than his predecessor, wants to exercise his Petrine ministry in the sense of a primacy of communion” and insists that this is not in contradiction with Vatican I. Among the “signals of reform” that become visible he especially is appreciative of the fact that the pope, by emphasising “the relative autonomy of continental episcopal conferences” has given “an also ecumenically relevant counterbalance against Roman centralism.” 25 According to bishop emeritus Peter Henrici one may hope on the basis of a few statements of pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium that 22 Hervé Legrand, “Enjeux ecclésiologiques des réformes institutionnelles envisagées par le pape François,” Le grand tournant , 185-210, p. 188. See also Legrand, “Roman Primacy, Communion between Churches, and Communion between Bishops,” Concilium 2014/5, 63-77. 23 Ibid., p. 190. 24 Ibid., pp. 195-209: ‘Quelques institutions que les projets de réforme du pape François pourraient revisiter’. 25 Jan-Heiner Tück, “Communio-Primat: Von Benedikt XVI. Zu Franziskus: Überlegungen zum Petrusdienst im dritten Jahrtausend,” Internationale Katholische Zeitschrift Communio 2014, 126- 141, pp. 128 & 137.

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