Apostolic governance: The power of the keys



A curious thing happened during my several weeks in Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. There was a sense of deep loss. It started, naturally enough, with a sense of personal loss on the death of Pope John Paul II. He had been a father and a friend. But then, witnessing the great outpouring of love and grief from every corner of the world, especially from the young, the sense of loss broadened and expanded. By the time of the Pope’s funeral, the loss was more than personal. The Church had lost Peter’s successor. There was no one who held the power of the keys, the authority given by Christ to St. Peter to forgive sins and to reconcile mankind to God, the power to govern the universal Church in Christ’s name.

During the week and a half between the burial of Pope John Paul II and the entry into conclave, the sense of loss deepened. The discussions among the Cardinals, no matter what the topic, were governed by the need to find the one who could hold the keys and make it possible for the Church to enjoy the governance willed for her by Christ and take up her mission anew.

The power of governance in the Church comes from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and is made visibly present for the world in the humanity of Jesus Christ. But Christ himself, risen from the dead and ascended to the Father, is now invisible. The visibility and tangibility of the Church have become the sign and instrument of the divine presence and action in the world.

Christ built his Church upon the foundation of the apostles. He gave those 12 quite ordinary men power to teach divine truth, to minister grace through sacramental signs and to govern the Church in his name. This apostolic office is visibly continued from generation to generation by the conferral of the sacrament of Holy Orders. Despite the limitations and sins of the apostles themselves and those who succeed to their office today, Christ uses bishops and priests to govern his people.

The apostle’s task is always to carry out the mission given him by the one who sends him, without pushing his own agenda. Jesus is the apostle of the Father; the 12, led by Peter their head, are the apostles of Jesus. In part, the office of the apostle was unique and unrepeatable, because the 12 were the chosen witnesses of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The other part of their role as representatives of Christ, as pastors of his Church, continues in their successors, the bishops of the Catholic Church. The apostolic ministry is the sign and instrument of constant divine initiative and guidance in the Church. To each Church they founded, the apostles brought the gifts of divine truth and sacramental grace, giving each local Church the institutional form necessary to continue its life as part of the universal communion of the one Church.

Those ordained to the episcopacy and the priesthood are to govern as Christ would, by loving their people as a bridegroom loves his bride. Their authority to govern comes not from the people but from Christ; but it is authority to be used only for the good of the people. It is authority to forgive and to unite people visibly around Christ. The ordained priesthood is not a job or a profession; it is a marriage.

Speaking of the role of the bishop in 2003, the late Pope John Paul II explained that “the ministry of the bishops absolutely cannot be reduced to the function of a simple coordinator. By its very nature, the episcopal role entails a clear and unequivocal right and duty of governance which also includes the element of jurisdiction. In carrying out this task, he will do everything possible to win the consent of the faithful; but in the end he will have to take personal responsibility for decisions which he, as their pastor, considers in conscience to be necessary, concerned as he is for the future judgment of God.”

Concern for the future judgement of God was very much in the mind of each Cardinal as he voted during the recent conclave. Before casting a ballot, each Cardinal had to swear before Christ, his judge, that he was voting for the one he himself judged to be best suited for the office of Pope. Accepting the papal office makes one the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Christ, and evangelizer to the world. All this would be daunting and even intimidating were it not for faith in the Spirit’s guidance of the Church and Christ’s promise to be with the Church until the end of time. Relying on the grace of God, the Cardinals in conclave felt supported as well by the prayers of the faithful around the world.

The election of Pope Benedict XVI is a moment of joy that the keys are now securely in the hands of a man uniquely prepared to hold the papal office. It is also a moment of conversion for the entire Church, a time to surrender our lives to Christ and to hear anew the call of Christ to take up the mission of the Church in our day. Those who resist personal change and spiritual conversion will find ways to undermine the papal office and the Church’s mission; but theirs is a tired and utterly predictable cynicism. It belies the freshness of this new moment in the history of the Church and of the world redeemed by Christ. Pope Benedict XVI spoke the truth when he preached at his inaugural Mass: the Church is alive and, furthermore, young. Her enemies, both inside and outside the Church, grow old, die and disappear from human history. Among the Church’s internal enemies, some will not believe and others will not obey; but the Church, through her bishops, still teaches and governs in Christ’s name and with his authority.

I am personally grateful to God that I have been a member of the Church and, as well, a member of the apostolic college during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. I am grateful also for the privilege of being part of the process of electing his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. The time between the death of one Pope and the election of another was tense and all engrossing. It reawakened in me and in many others a sense of what apostolic governance in the Church really means. From a sense of loss to a feeling of relief and conviction that the College of Cardinals had done their very best to fulfill God’s will for his people, the emotional journey of the last month has been intense and joyful. I am grateful, finally, to all those in the Archdiocese who accompanied me with their prayers. God bless you.

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