Papal Primacy

Pope Benedict XIV with Sts. Peter and Paul

Here's an excerpt from a letter between then-Cardinal Ratzinger and Metropolitan Damaskinos on the meaning of "first in honor" and "president in love" within the Catholic/Orthodox dialogue. While denying that papal primacy confers any juridical authority over other Churches, these are the appellations which the Orthodox Church applies to the See of Rome. Ratzinger offers a characteristically thought-provoking reply.

"The 'honor' of the first is not, indeed, to be understood in the sense of the honor accorded by worldly protocol; 'honor' in the Church is service, obedience to Christ. Then again, agape [love] is not just a feeling entailing no obligations, still less a form of social organization, but is in the final analysis a eucharistic concept, which is as such connected to the theology of the Cross, since the Eucharist is based on the Cross; the Cross is the most extreme expression of God's love for us in Jesus Christ.

If the Church in the very depth of her being coincides with the Eucharist, then the presidency of love carries with it a responsibility for unity, which has a significance within the Church yet, at the same time, is a responsibility for 'distinguishing what is Christian' as against worldly society, and therefore it will always bear a martyrological character." Emphasis added