Cardinal Koch and Auxiliary Bishop Eleganti argue about the Pope's document

The Swiss Auxiliary Bishop Marian Eleganti and Curia Cardinal Kurt Koch are publicly arguing about the new ecumenical study document on the papacy. In an open letter, the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity open letter rejects accusations by the auxiliary bishop that the the study document "The Bishop of Rome" published last week published last week, seeks to abandon the doctrinal statements of the First Vatican Council (1869-1870). Koch's open letter, published on Monday, was a reaction to Eleganti's initial assessment, which he published on published on "swiss-kath.ch" on Saturday. on Saturday. The auxiliary bishop fears that the Petrine ministry should be downgraded "until it becomes acceptable to as many separated Christians as possible, but is no longer what it should be according to the will of Christ". The document does not measure the primacy of papal jurisdiction by the Church's teaching, but by the extent to which it is accepted by other Christians.

Koch clearly rejects this in his response. It is "simply wrong" that the document, as Eleganti implies, implies acceptance of the Pope's jurisdiction. jurisdiction of the Pope by other Christians as a "criterion for its validity and legitimacy". It is by no means a question of papal dogmas of the First Vatican Council to adopt them. "On the contrary, the document proposes that the Catholic Church should seek new forms of expression and a new vocabulary with regard to the First Vatican Council, but one that remains true to the original intention and is integrated into the ecclesiology of communion," said Koch.

Repositioning in the light of the Second Vatican Council

The cardinal emphasises that a repositioning of the Pope's dogmas in the light of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which strengthened the idea of communion, falls within the authority of the Magisterium: "As a Catholic, I assume that the guidance of the Church by the Holy Spirit did not stop at the First Vatican Council, but that the Holy Spirit also accompanied the Church at the Second Vatican Council and continues to do so today." Whether Eleganti also understands this in this way was not clear to Koch from the auxiliary bishop's statement: "On the one hand, you emphasise - rightly - the lasting validity of the First Vatican Council, while on the other hand you criticise the Second Vatican Council in a rather idiosyncratic way, for example by accusing it of having 'semantically diluted' the self-understanding and claim of the Catholic Church." With these words, Eleganti had criticised the church constitution "Lumen Gentium" of the Second Vatican Council, which states that the Church of Christ is realised in the Catholic Church ("subsistit in"), and not that the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church ("est").

Koch is also astonished that Eleganti, of all people, who in recent years has years with clear criticism of Pope Francis' teaching ministry now emphasises the papal office in such a way: "I find it strange that you now demand the primacy of the Pope's jurisdiction and ecclesiastical obedience to papal doctrinal decisions in an absolute manner, yet even in previous statements you have claimed your freedom to question or even reject quite a few of the current Pope's jurisdictional decisions. I cannot understand how the two can go together."

Eleganti sticks to his position

On Monday, Eleganti published a reply to Kochin which he maintained his position. He wondered what the dialogue efforts proposed in the study document would produce other than, at most, an honorary primacy of the Pope, which would not be linked to any jurisdiction. In contrast, the First Vatican Council declared in its dogmatic constitution "Pastor Aeternus" that the Pope had been given "immediate and direct primacy of jurisdiction over the entire Church of God" by Christ. "This does not mean that the Pope may not be criticised in all areas of his ministry in which he does not teach and act infallibly," Eleganti continued.

On Thursday, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, headed by Koch, published the study document "The Bishop of Rome" published. This collects reactions from the ecumenical world to the encyclical "Ut unum sint" (1995) by Pope John Paul II and the results of the ecumenical dialogue on the role of the Pope. The Dicastery also makes suggestions on how the understanding of the papal office can be further developed so that the Pope can fulfil his role as guarantor of the unity of the churches. As one measure, the Dicastery proposes a review or official commentary on the First Vatican Council in order to read its decisions in the light of the Second Vatican Council. The First Vatican Council had dogmatised papal infallibility and the primacy of the Pope's jurisdiction. Reactions from the ecumenical world to the study document were largely positive. (fxn)