Collegiality in the Catholic Church
{{See also|Collegiality}}
In the Catholic Church, collegiality refers to “the Pope governing the Church in collaboration with the bishops of the local Churches, respecting their proper autonomy.” In the Early Church, popes sometimes exercised moral authority rather than administrative power, and that authority was not exercised extremely often; regional churches elected their own bishops, resolved disputes in local synods, and only felt the need to appeal to the Pope under special circumstances.
Historical development
During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the papacy amassed considerable power, as monastic reformers saw it as a way to counter corrupt bishops while bishops saw it as an ally against the interference of secular rulers. As early as the fourteenth century, opposition to this centralization of papal authority had developed, with Bishop Guillaume Durand proposing at the Council of Vienne that local hierarchies and regional synods be strengthened. This opposition to centralization was tested when a group of cardinals, allied with secular rulers, called a council to resolve the Great Schism of the Western Church (1378 – 1417), in which several rivals had claimed to be pope. The Councils of Pisa and Constance claimed authority to judge the popes, deposed various claimants, and elected Pope Martin V. The Council of Constance also claimed that all Christians, including the Pope, were bound to obey councils "in matters pertaining to faith, the ending of the schism, and the reform of the church."{{Citation | last = Oakley | first = Francis | author-link = Francis Oakley | publication-date = 2008 | title = The Conciliarist Tradition: Constitutionalism in the Catholic Church 1300-1870 | publisher = Oxford University Press | publication-place = Oxford | page = 40 | isbn = 978-0-19-954124-9 }} This claim was short-lived and the conciliar movement soon ran out of steam.
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period some church historians have called the "long nineteenth century,"{{Citation | last = O'Malley | first = John W., S. J. | publication-date = 2010 | year = 2008 | title = What Happened at Vatican II | chapter = The Long Nineteenth Century | edition = Kindle | publisher = Harvard University Press | publication-place = Cambridge | at = [https://archive.org/details/whathappenedatva00omal/page/ locations 1060-1873] | isbn = 978-0-674-03169-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/whathappenedatva00omal/page/ }} saw a further consolidation of papal authority. In 1870 the First Vatican Council decreed the infallibility of the Pope's teachings,{{Citation | last = Duffy | first = Eamon | author-link = Eamon Duffy | publication-date = 2014 | title = Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes | edition = fourth (Kindle) | publisher = Yale University Press | publication-place = New Haven | at = [https://archive.org/details/00book1593273669/page/ locations 5462-5471] | isbn = 978-0-300-11597-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/00book1593273669/page/ }} although during the council Cardinal Filippo Maria Guidi {{post-nominals|post-noms=OP}} of Bologna objected that the Pope teaches in consultation with other bishops. A further addition to papal power took place in 1917, with the publication of a Code of Canon Law which gave the pope universal power to appoint bishops, ignoring the traditional principle of free election of bishops.{{Citation | last = O'Malley | first = John W., S. J. | publication-date = 2010 | year = 2008 | title = What Happened at Vatican II | edition = Kindle | publisher = Harvard University Press | publication-place = Cambridge | at = [https://archive.org/details/whathappenedatva00omal/page/ locations 1305-1311] | isbn = 978-0-674-03169-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/whathappenedatva00omal/page/ }} This system of appointments, coupled with modern communications and the system of papal nuncios who could override local decisions, reduced the power of bishops and made the popes the "last absolute monarchs."
Vatican II to 2013
{{See also|Theology of Pope Francis#Decentralization and synodal governance}}
Bishops who objected to this recent consolidation of papal authority proposed at the Second Vatican Council to use the traditional collegial model to limit the centralizing tendencies of the Roman Curia; unlike conciliarists, who had maintained that an ecumenical council was superior to the Pope, advocates of collegiality proposed bishops only act “with and under the Peter [i.e. the Pope]” (cum et sub Petro). Collegiality became one of the principal elements of the reform agenda, and a chief point of conflict with the traditionalist minority at the Council. The reformers did not see this as undermining Church Tradition, but a return to the original practice of Peter and the Apostolic College. The traditionalist minority, however, opposed collegiality as undermining the authority of the Pope and changing the Church from “monarchical to ‘episcopalian’ and collegial.” In 1964, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, set forth the general principle of the College of Bishops, which succeeds and gives continuing existence to the Apostolic College.{{Citation|author=Second Vatican Council |author-link=Second Vatican Council |date=21 November 1964 |title=Dogmatic Constitution on the Church; Lumen Gentium |at=§22 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html |access-date=24 June 2015 |quote=Just as in the Gospel, the Lord so disposing, St. Peter and the other apostles constitute one apostolic college, so in a similar way the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are joined together.… The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles and gives this apostolic body continued existence, is also the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together with its head the Roman Pontiff and never without this head. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906031754/https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html |archive-date=6 September 2014 }} The next year, Pope Paul VI issued a letter of his own initiative, Apostolica Sollicitudo,{{Citation | author = Paul VI | author-link = Pope Paul VI | date = 15 September 1965 | title = Apostolic letter issued motu proprio Apostolica sollicitudo | publisher = Libreria Editrice Vaticana | publication-place = Vatican City | url =https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19650915_apostolica-sollicitudo.html | access-date = 23 June 2015 }} which established the synod of bishops, while the Council’s Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, Christus Dominus, established general rules for national and regional conferences of bishops, urging their formation where they did not already exist.{{Citation|author=Second Vatican Council |author-link=Second Vatican Council |date=28 October 1965 |title=Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops; Christus Dominus |at=§36-38 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_christus-dominus_en.html |access-date=24 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802084853/https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_christus-dominus_en.html |archive-date=2 August 2013 }}
Since Vatican II, there has been an ongoing debate about the authority of episcopal conferences between advocates of centralization of authority in the Vatican, who play down the importance of bishops' conferences, and supporters of decentralization, who emphasize their importance. In 1998, Pope John Paul II issues the motu proprio On the Theological and Juridical Nature of Episcopal Conferences (Apostolos suos), which has been described as “probably the most important post-Conciliar papal document on episcopal collegiality.”{{Citation | last = McAleese | first = Mary | author-link = Mary McAleese | year = 2012 | title = Quo Vadis?: Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law | edition = Kindle | publisher = The Columba Press | publication-place = Blackrock, Ireland | at = locations 2472-2474 | isbn = 978-1-85607-786-6}} He stated how declarations of such conferences “constitute authentic magisterium” when approved unanimously by a conference; otherwise, the conference majority must seek “the recognitio of the Apostolic See”, which they will not receive if the majority “is not substantial.”{{Citation |author=John Paul II |author-link=Pope John Paul II |date=21 May 1998 |title=Apostolos suos; On the Theological and Juridical Nature of Episcopal Conferences |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |publication-place=Vatican City |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_22071998_apostolos-suos.html |access-date=25 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150729082514/http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_22071998_apostolos-suos.html |archive-date=29 July 2015 }}
Pope Francis
Since the beginning of his reign in March 2013, Pope Francis (himself twice been elected president of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference) has advocated for increasing the role of collegiality and synodality in the development of Church teachings.{{Citation | publication-date = 28 August 2013 | title = Synodality, collegiality: two keys to the coming Francis reform | periodical = Catholic Voices Comment | publisher = Catholic Voices | publication-place = London | url = http://cvcomment.org/2013/08/28/synodality-collegiality-two-keys-to-the-coming-francis-reform/ | access-date = 21 June 2015 | archive-date = 21 June 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150621232832/http://cvcomment.org/2013/08/28/synodality-collegiality-two-keys-to-the-coming-francis-reform/ | url-status = dead }} He put this concern into practice when he urged the Synod of Bishops to speak with parrhesia (“boldly”) and without fear, unlike in earlier synods where officials of the Roman Curia would rule out discussion of contentious issues.{{Citation | last = Reese | first = Thomas, S.J. | author-link = Thomas J. Reese | publication-date = 17 October 2014 | title = How the synod process is different under Pope Francis | publisher = National Catholic Reporter | publication-place = Kansas City, MO | url = http://ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/how-synod-process-different-under-pope-francis | access-date = 21 June 2015 }} A further example is the unprecedented degree to which he drew on the teaching documents of fifteen national bishops’ conferences and two larger regional conferences from Latin America and Asia for his encyclical on the environment, Laudato si'.{{Citation | last = Allen Jr. | first = John L. Jr. | author-link = John L. Allen Jr. | publication-date = 20 June 2015 | title = The encyclical’s footnotes say a lot about this pope | periodical = Crux | publisher = Boston Globe Media | publication-place = Boston | url = http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/20/the-encyclicals-footnotes-say-a-lot-about-this-pope/ | access-date = 24 June 2015 | archive-date = 21 June 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150621185828/http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/20/the-encyclicals-footnotes-say-a-lot-about-this-pope/ | url-status = dead }}{{Citation | last = Peppard | first = Michael | publication-date = 18 June 2015 | title = Pope Francis's Earthquake | journal = dotCommonweal | publisher = Commonweal Foundation | url = https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/pope-franciss-earthquake | access-date = 21 June 2015 }} The Council of Cardinals examined the themes of synodality and the “healthy decentralisation” of the Church during its meeting in February 2016.{{Citation | date = December 14, 2015 | title = The Holy Father attends the twelfth meeting of the Council of Cardinals | journal = VIS News | publisher = Vatican Information Service | publication-place = Vatican City | url = http://visnews-en.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-holy-father-attends-twelfth-meeting.html | access-date = 14 December 2015 }}
In September 2017, Pope Francis issued the motu proprio, Magnum principium, in which he amended the 1983 Code of Canon Law to increase the responsibility of national conferences of Bishops for liturgical translations. The change has been described “as one of Pope Francis’s strongest moves yet in terms of fostering greater collegiality in the Catholic Church.”{{Citation | date = 9 September 2017 | title = Pope pushes decentralization on translation of liturgical texts | journal = Crux | url = https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/09/09/pope-pushes-decentralization-translation-liturgical-texts/ | access-date = 11 September 2017 | archive-date = 17 December 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221217163028/https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/09/09/pope-pushes-decentralization-translation-liturgical-texts | url-status = dead }}
In September 2018, by the apostolic constitution Episcopalis communio,{{cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-boosts-authority-of-the-synod-of-bishops|title=18 September 2018|last=Pantin|first=Edward|work=National Catholic Register|access-date=21 May 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/39398/pope-francis-approves-new-constitution-for-synod-of-bishops|title=Pope Francis approves new constitution for Synod of Bishops|last=Brockhaus|first=Hannah|date=18 September 2018|access-date=21 May 2019|publisher=Catholic News Agency}} Pope Francis introduced a more direct process whereby a final synodal document becomes a part of the Church's magisterium simply by receiving papal approval. The new constitution also provides for the laity to send their contributions directly to the synod’s secretary general.