Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI greets an old friend, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin

It’s hard to imagine any topic that is more misunderstood or maligned than authority in the Church, especially papal authority. Catholics disagree among themselves. Protestants reject the traditional teaching out of hand, and other faiths (and people of no faith) are curious and skeptical at best. 

Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) has given much thought to the question of authority in the Church. He has written about this topic extensively with his characteristically clear and lucid prose. Here is an example:

The ecclesiastical teaching office, and ministry in the Church in general, is not the kind of “leadership” exercised by an enlightened ruler who is confident that he posses a better faculty of reason and translates it into ordinances, while counting on the obedience of his subordinates, who have to accept his reason and it’s decisions as their divinely willed standard. Nor does the hierarchical ministry correspond to a democratic authority in which the individuals delegate their political will to representatives and thereby declare their agreement that the majority will should be the law. 

If Church authority is neither autocratic nor democratic, how should it be exercised? What is the nature of the authority exercised by the pope and the bishops in communion with him?

I think two words define authority in the Church: service and truth. In the Gospels Jesus makes it clear that his disciples are to serve rather than be served. This is true for all Christians, but it is especially important for the apostles and their successors and all those who have leadership responsibilities in the Church. The greatest among us is the one who is totally dedicated to serving the needs of others.

The other word that defines authority in the Church is “truth.” The search for objective truth (the way things really are) begins with God’s Word revealed to us in sacred scripture and handed down to us from our mothers and fathers in faith (the Judeo-Christian tradition). Because even the devil can quote the Bible and twist it’s meaning to his own ends, we need an authoritative guide to the authentic interpretation of God’s revelation of self to us. The apostles (led by Peter) and their successors (led by the pope) are the only reliable guides to understanding the mysteries revealed to us through sacred scripture and traditional Church teaching. Not everyone believes this, but what is the alternative? Individual interpretation? Group consensus?

I for one choose to believe that the Bible is divinely inspired and that the pope and the bishops are the only ones who are authorized to interpret its meaning for us in definitive ways. Does this mean that the successors of Peter and the apostles are perfect? No. But it does mean that the Holy Spirit uses them—in spite of their blindness and their sins—to teach the truth as servants of God’s people.

It truly requires a leap of faith to arrive at this view of authority in the Church. Agnosticism, scepticism and outright rejection are common responses. But in the end, this understanding of Church authority must prevail because it is the only viewpoint that does not lead to complete chaos and confusion.

Service is the key. Any Church leader who is haughty, rigid or self-seeking will fail miserably in the effort to speak the truth. Humility, trustworthiness and courage are required. The two men in the photograph above, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Newark Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, are men who possess these qualities (along with Pope Francis and many other bishops). If we look to them, follow their example and their teaching, we will discover the truth about ourselves and the world we live in.

May God bless all who exercised authority in the Church. May they always serve others while seeking the truth in love.