Roman Catholics: The Pope Under Fire

Not since Vatican II had so broad an assembly of prelates, priests and theologians converged on Rome. Never, in modern times, had the seat of the Roman Catholic Church itself been under such combined attack from visitors. At official meetings of bishops and theologians and at a completely unofficial assembly of priests, the central if subtle topic of discussion in Rome this week will be the authority of Pope Paul VI —and the possibility of limiting it.

The meeting of the 144 bishops, archbishops and cardinals, who represent national conferences of bishops in 92 countries, has only one overriding subject on its agenda: the practical application of collegiality, or shared authority, which was enunciated during Vatican II. Should the Pope rule with only the advice of his bishops, as Rome insists, or should he allow the bishops co-responsibility with him? The same issue was touched on last week at smaller meetings of 29 theologians who form the Pope’s theological commission. The theologians came to no hard decision. They did agree, however, that as long as churchmen were “publicly cautious,” they could pursue a pluralistic theology, or one that allows controversial views.

Agenda by Rome. Liberals among the bishops and theologians would like to broaden the discussions to include such divisive issues as birth control and priestly celibacy. There is little likelihood that they will get their way; Rome has set the agenda. But no such proscriptions bound the rebellious European Assembly of Priests, whose 80 delegates began six days of meetings last week.

Representing 3,500 of their colleagues in eight European nations, the priests boldly declared that the church was a “prisoner of the past” and announced that the theme of their gathering was “Free the church to free the world.” One way to free the church, they suggested, was to establish an elected papacy and episcopate with limited terms of office. The priests also urged lay participation in bishops’ elections, and called for the elimination of papal envoys to other nations. They also urged an end to compulsory celibacy vows and the institution of a married priesthood, one of the most hotly debated topics in the Catholic clergy today.

The dissident priests were in deadly earnest, and they asked the Pope’s blessing. Instead, the Vatican quietly passed the word that the priests were to be denied meeting space on Catholic premises. Eventually, they were forced to meet at the Waldensian Protestant church near the Tiber. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore delta Domenica observed that many of them had in effect already left the church they were purporting to liberate.