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On another forum people are saying that Pope Benedict has nuanced his stand on Eastern Orthodoxy

http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/pope-of-rome-and-christian-east.html

OK, I admit to being dumb! I do not see what has been nuanced and what the new meaning is now. Can someone please explain. No words over two syllables. smile

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The nuance - according to the author of the article - is that Benedict no longer holds that the papacy is essential to the existence of the particular (i.e., local) Churches.

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Originally Posted by Apotheoun
The nuance - according to the author of the article - is that Benedict no longer holds that the papacy is essential to the existence of the particular (i.e., local) Churches.

If that is so, would that be something more than a 'nuance'. I know that the Church, both in the East and West uses highly stylized prose but?

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I think what Pope Benedict(3)means is that a local church remains a church, albeit (3) a defective one(3), even if not in union with Rome. In other words, it is not fully Catholic. No change at all, IMHO.

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Originally Posted by Utroque
I think what Pope Benedict(3)means is that a local church remains a church, albeit (3) a defective one(3), even if not in union with Rome. In other words, it is not fully Catholic. No change at all, IMHO.
You could be right, but I cannot confirm that since I do not have the pope's book.

Personally I see nothing defective in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and so I consider communion with the pope to be non-essential.

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Well, if you are Orthodox, that's a perfectly orthodox opinion.

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As the author of the review contained in the blog is one of our own, we can hope that he'll offer us his thinking.

Many years,

Neil


"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
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First it needs to be noted that a papal interview does not possess magisterial authority at any level. What we have here are the private musings of the Bishop of Rome. Nonetheless, the interview is of great interest to all.

Dr DeVille quotes the following statement from the interview: "the Eastern Churches are genuine particular churches, although they are not in communion with the pope. In this sense, unity with the pope is not constitutive for the particular church." DeVille then wonders whether this statement represents a retreat from Dominus Iesus. I honestly do not know why he thinks this, given that Vatican II, as well as post-Vatican II teaching, is clear that the Eastern Churches, unlike the ecclesial communities of Protestantism, are authentic particular Churches, despite their eucharistic separation from the Bishop of Rome. I do not see anything new here, but DeVille no doubt knows this subject far better than I, so I suppose I should withhold judgment.

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It's possible that when he read, "In this sense, unity with the pope is not constitutive for the particular church," he interpreted this to mean "In this sense, unity with the pope is not constitutive for a particular church."

Humbly,
Marduk

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Quote
First it needs to be noted that a papal interview does not possess magisterial authority at any level.

Then he ought not to give them. Anyone who has seen Mikado knows that the Mikado's word is law, and when he says that something should be done, that thing is as good as done, in fact it practically is done, so why not say it is done and be finished with it?

In any case, Dominus Iesus was intended mainly as a rebuke to syncretizing Latin bishops in India. Which also shows that perhaps the CDF should coordinate more with other dicasteries before issuing documents that could be too easily misinterpreted.

Or better still, if you want to ream out some bishops, invited them to the Vatican and do it in person and in private.

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As others have said, I'm not sure how significant that "nuance" really is.

I was more interested in:

The pope is not exclusively the "vicar of Christ": this title, rather, belongs to "every priest" when he "speaks on behalf of Jesus Christ" (7).

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It's not a nuance, simply a recognition of a reality that has existed since the earliest Church.

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Quote another paragraph from "The Pope of Rome and the Christian East":

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* Infallibility cannot be invoked arbitrarily: Vatican I has, of course, been seen (often incorrectly, in my judgment) as a huge impediment to Orthodox-Catholic unity. Much of that is based on misunderstanding, which the pope is at pains here briefly to correct, insisting that the pope can never act "arbitrarily" but only in concert with other bishops and only "when tradition has been clarified" so as to proclaim "the faith of the Church" (8).

Indeed, it often strikes me that people fail to notice that Vatican I never said how many ex cathedra statements there have been, or even whether there have been any.

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Originally Posted by Peter J
Indeed, it often strikes me that people fail to notice that Vatican I never said how many ex cathedra statements there have been, or even whether there have been any.
Bishop Gasser, in his Official Relatio delivered to the assembled bishops at Vatican I on 11 July 1870, said that ". . . thousands and thousands of dogmatic judgments have gone forth from the Apostolic See," so it is pretty clear that the head of the Deputation de Fide charged with formulating the decree on the papal teaching office at the council did not view papal infallibility as something that has rarely been used.

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Originally Posted by Peter J
Quote another paragraph from "The Pope of Rome and the Christian East":

Quote
* Infallibility cannot be invoked arbitrarily: Vatican I has, of course, been seen (often incorrectly, in my judgment) as a huge impediment to Orthodox-Catholic unity. Much of that is based on misunderstanding, which the pope is at pains here briefly to correct, insisting that the pope can never act "arbitrarily" but only in concert with other bishops and only "when tradition has been clarified" so as to proclaim "the faith of the Church" (8).
The problem I have with quotations like this is that they do not seem to be in harmony either with the decree Pastor Aeternus or the Official Relatio of the Deputation de Fide from Vatican I, both of which go out of their way to say that the pope is not bound to consult with the bishops prior to issuing a dogmatic decree.

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