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Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as priest of the entire Catholic Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: Paragraph 882 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997). that, in brief, "the pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls." Paragraph 937 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997).
The doctrine had the most significance in the relationship between the church and the temporal state, in matters such as ecclesiastic privileges, the actions of monarchs and even successions.
In his letter to Rome, Ignatius of Antioch says that the church at Rome "presides in the place of the region of the Romans" (προκάθηται ἐν τόπῳ χωρίου Ῥωμαίων).J.B. Lightfoot, "Letter of Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans, Prologue", The Apostolic Fathers: Part 2: Ignatius and Polycarp (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1989, orig. 1890), vol. 2, pp. 190–191.
Scholars such as Francis A. Sullivan say that there was no single "bishop" of Rome until well after the year 150 AD, and that there was no papacy for the first three centuries. Sullivan "expressed agreement with the consensus of scholars that available evidence indicates that the church of Rome was led by a college of presbyters, rather than a single bishop, for at least several decades of the second century."
Raymond E. Brown, while acknowledging the developmental aspect of bishoprics, did believe that early popes had high roles of authority among presbyters in Rome, and thus, it makes sense to speak of their successors. Responses to 101 Questions on the Bible. New York: Paulist Press. pp. 127–136.
Jesuit historian Klaus Schatz states that, "If one had asked a Christian in the year 100, 200, or even 300 whether the bishop of Rome was the head of all Christians, or whether there was a supreme bishop over all the other bishops and having the last word in questions affecting the whole Church, he or she would certainly have said no." He believes that this is because questions like these presuppose modern categories, which took time to develop. He goes on to explain how primacy was understood in the first centuries. He also believes it likely that "there very quickly emerged a presider or 'first among equals.
In the first three centuries of Christianity the church in Rome intervened in other communities to help resolve conflicts.Afanassieff, Nicholas (1992). "The Church Which Presides In Love". In John Meyendorff, ed. The Primacy of Peter: Essays in Ecclesiology and the Early Church. New York. Ch. 4, pp. 126–127. Pope Clement I did so in Corinth in the end of the first century.Cross, F. L., ed. "Clement of Rome, St". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005. In the third century, Pope Cornelius convened and presided over a synod of 60 African and Eastern bishops,McBrien, Richard P. "Pope Cornelius, a reconciler, had a hard road" . National Catholic Reporter 40.41 (September 24, 2004): 19(1). Gale. Sacred Heart Preparatory (BAISL). 5 December 2008. and his rival, the antipope Novatian, claimed to have "assumed the primacy".
In the complex development of papal supremacy, two broad phases may be noted.
From the beginning of his papacy in 401, Pope Innocent I was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. During his papacy, the Roman apostolic See was seen as the ultimate resort for the settlement of all ecclesiastical disputes. His communications with Victricius of Rouen, Exuperius, Alexander of Antioch and others, as well as his actions on the appeal made to him by John Chrysostom against Theophilus of Alexandria, show that opportunities of this kind were numerous and varied.Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910). "Pope Innocent I". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 11 February 2020.
Pope Leo I was a significant contributor to the centralisation of spiritual authority within the church and in reaffirming papal authority. The bishop of Rome had gradually become viewed as the chief patriarch in the Western church. On several occasions, Leo was asked to arbitrate disputes in Gaul. One involved Hilary of Arles, who refused to recognize Leo's judicial status. Leo appealed to past practice, "And so we would have you recollect, brethren, as we do, that the Apostolic See, such is the reverence in which it is held, has times out of number been referred to and consulted by the priests of your province as well as others, and in the various matters of appeal, as the old usage demanded, it has reversed or confirmed decisions: and in this way 'the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Ephesians 4:3 has been kept'", Pope Leo I. "Letter 10: To the Bishops of the Province of Vienne. In the matter of Hilary, Bishop of Arles". Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Second Series. Vol. 12. Translated by Charles Lett Feltoe. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895. Feeling that the primatial rights of the bishop of Rome were threatened, Leo appealed to the civil power for support and obtained, from Valentinian III, a decree of 6 June 445, which recognized the primacy of the bishop of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the legislation of the First Council of Nicaea; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of any bishop who refused to answer a summons to Rome.Henry Bettenson, Chris Maunder, Documents of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2011 ), p. 24
Gelasius I, who served from 492 to 496, in a controversy with Anastasius, the Byzantine emperor, likewise fought to maintain the doctrine of papal supremacy. This dispute was an incipient point of conflict between the Holy See and the Empire.
From the late 6th to the late 8th centuries there was a turning of the papacy to the West and its escape from subordination to the authority of the Byzantine emperors of Constantinople. This phase has sometimes incorrectly been credited to Pope Gregory I (who reigned from 590 to 604), who, like his predecessors, represented to the people of the Roman world a church that was still identified with the empire. Unlike some of those predecessors, Gregory was compelled to face the collapse of imperial authority in northern Italy. As the leading civil official of the empire in Rome, it fell to him to take over the civil administration of the cities and to negotiate for the protection of Rome itself with the Lombards invaders threatening it. Another part of this phase occurred in the 8th century, after the rise of the new religion of Islam had weakened the Byzantine Empire and the Lombards had renewed their pressure in Italy. The popes finally sought support from the Frankish rulers of the West and received from the Frankish king Pepin The Short the first part of the Italian territories later known as the Papal States. With Pope Leo III's coronation of Charlemagne, first of the Carolingian emperors, the papacy also gained his protection.
In letters concerning the Second Council of Nicea, the Roman Church is referred to as the "head of all churches" twice; at the same time it affirms Christ to be the head of the church, and the Apostle Peter is referred to as the "chief of Apostles"—but when listed with Paul they are together referred to as the "chief apostles".Halsall, Paul. "Medieval Sourcebook: The Second Council of Nicea, 787". Fordham University.
Early in this phase, defense of Papal supremacy was voiced by Anselm of Canterbury (1093–1109). Anselm insisted on his right and obligation to go to Rome to receive the pallium, symbolic of his metropolitan authority. King William Rufus refused to permit this as he had not as yet recognized Urban II as opposed to Clement III, who had been installed by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. A council was held at Rockingham on 25 February 1095, where Anselm boldly asserted the authority of Urban in a speech giving testimony to the doctrine of papal supremacy.Kent, William. "St. Anselm". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 11 February 2020.
An example of Gallicanism was the dispute between King Louis XIV of France and the Holy See about the application of the 1516 Concordat of Bologna after Louis XIV's extension of the droit de régale throughout the Kingdom of France in 1673. The dispute led to the 1682 Declaration of the Clergy of France promulgated by the 1681 Assembly of the French clergy. The Articles asserted that the civil power has absolute independence; that the pope is inferior to the General Council and the decrees of the Council of Constance were still binding; that the exercise of pontifical authority should be regulated by the ecclesiastical canons, and that dogmatic decisions of the pope are not irrevocable until they have been confirmed by the judgment of the whole church. The apostolic constitution Inter multiplices pastoralis officii promulgated by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690, and published in 1691, quashed the entire proceedings of the 1681 Assembly and declared that the Declaration of the clergy of France was null and void, and invalid. In 1693, Louis XIV rescinded the four articles and "wrote a letter of retraction" to Pope Innocent XII. Those members of the 1681 Assembly, who were presented as candidates for vacant episcopal sees and were refused papal confirmation of their appointment, received confirmation, in 1693, only after they disavowed everything that the 1681 Assembly decreed regarding ecclesiastical power and pontifical authority.
In the dogmatic constitution named Pastor aeternus, ultramontanism achieved victory over conciliarism with the pronouncement of papal infallibility (the ability of the pope to define dogmas free from error ex cathedra) and of papal supremacy, i.e., supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary jurisdiction of the pope.
Indeed, Pastor aeternus states papal supremacy is a dogma:
Vatican II reaffirmed everything Vatican I taught about papal primacy, supremacy and infallibility, but it added important points about bishops. Bishops, it says, are not "vicars of the Roman Pontiff". Rather, in governing their local churches they are "vicars and legates of Christ". Together, they form a body, a "college", whose head is the pope. This episcopal college is responsible for the well-being of the Catholic Church. Here in a nutshell are the basic elements of the Council's much-discussed communio ecclesiology, which affirms the importance of local churches and the doctrine of collegiality.
In a passage about collegiality, Vatican II teaches: "The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the Universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff". Much of the present discussion of papal primacy is concerned with exploring the implications of this passage.
Vatican II also emphasized the sensus fidelium as the vehicle for the living tradition, Lumen Gentium, 12 with the promise to Peter assuring that the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church, which is the people who are the living tradition.Matthew 16:18 Therefore, infallibility is "a doctrine and order rooted in and reflecting the sensus fidelium". Karl Rahner insists that a Pope's statements depend essentially on his knowledge of what the living tradition maintains. There is no question of revelation but of preservation from error in the exercise of this oversight. This living tradition was gathered from communication with all the Bishops in the two instances where the Pope defined dogmas apart from a Council, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. "150th Anniversary of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception". Fides Press Agency.
Referring to Ignatius of Antioch, in Letter to the Smyrnaeans, "Let Nothing Be Done Without the Bishop", Carlton wrote:
The church is in the image of the Trinity and reflects the reality of the incarnation.
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