The Peculiarity of Papal Primacy

[Michie]

I am often amused by my Protestant friends when they, with great excitement and intrigue, say, “Have you heard what the Pope said?” to which, after hearing them out, respond, “I think you care more about the papacy than I do.” Upon hearing this, their faces betray a kind of perplexed, vacant, slack-jawed bewilderment, as though they had been struck by a sudden and incomprehensible revelation, to which they were struggling valiantly to make sense of without much success. For a Catholic papal primacy is vital, but not absolute.

Biblical Basis
​

The biblical basis for papal primacy is grounded in the Davidic kingdom. King David and his successors ruled with the assistance of twelve other ministers (cf. 1 Kings 4:1ff). One of the twelve was a prime minister who would rule in the absence of the king (cf. Isaiah 22:19–23) and held the king’s authority, symbolized by the keys of the kingdom of David. He was to be called the father of the people of Judah and would become like a peg driven into a firm place; a throne upon which the honor of the house would rest (cf. Is 22:23). This is the Old Testament context for understanding the office of St. Peter found in Matthew 16:18–19, where Jesus builds his Church upon the rock, which is Peter, giving him the keys of the kingdom of heaven to bind and loose. However, in a few verses Peter rebukes Jesus for proclaiming the necessity of the Paschal mystery. Jesus, rather than referring to Peter as the rock upon which the Church has been built, now calls him a stumbling block and satan (cf. Matt 16:23). It is of interest that the Petrine stumbling block in Greek is σκάνδαλον (skandalon). Peter the rock is ambiguous and has the potential of being scandalous.

Continued below.

The Peculiarity of Papal Primacy

Fr. Olek Stirrat explains why papal primacy is vital but not absolute

whatweneednow.substack.com

 

[fide]

I am often amused by my Protestant friends when they, with great excitement and intrigue, say, “Have you heard what the Pope said?” to which, after hearing them out, respond, “I think you care more about the papacy than I do.” Upon hearing this, their faces betray a kind of perplexed, vacant, slack-jawed bewilderment, as though they had been struck by a sudden and incomprehensible revelation, to which they were struggling valiantly to make sense of without much success. For a Catholic papal primacy is vital, but not absolute.

Biblical Basis​

​

The biblical basis for papal primacy is grounded in the Davidic kingdom. King David and his successors ruled with the assistance of twelve other ministers (cf. 1 Kings 4:1ff). One of the twelve was a prime minister who would rule in the absence of the king (cf. Isaiah 22:19–23) and held the king’s authority, symbolized by the keys of the kingdom of David. He was to be called the father of the people of Judah and would become like a peg driven into a firm place; a throne upon which the honor of the house would rest (cf. Is 22:23). This is the Old Testament context for understanding the office of St. Peter found in Matthew 16:18–19, where Jesus builds his Church upon the rock, which is Peter, giving him the keys of the kingdom of heaven to bind and loose. However, in a few verses Peter rebukes Jesus for proclaiming the necessity of the Paschal mystery. Jesus, rather than referring to Peter as the rock upon which the Church has been built, now calls him a stumbling block and satan (cf. Matt 16:23). It is of interest that the Petrine stumbling block in Greek is σκάνδαλον (skandalon). Peter the rock is ambiguous and has the potential of being scandalous.

Continued below.

The Peculiarity of Papal Primacy

Fr. Olek Stirrat explains why papal primacy is vital but not absolute

whatweneednow.substack.com

Very interesting. Reminds me of a blog essay on a site I keep up with - RenewTheChurch.com. The post is titled, and the conclusion shown by the author here, "The Church will Remain; the Papacy Must Fall." Some of the signposts along the way seem similar - the notion of dimensions of the Church in this essay described as Petrine, Jacobian and Johannine/Marian:

We can see two or even three “primacies” in types originating in the Twelve. Jesus shows us a “trinity of primacies” among the Apostles Peter, James and John, gathered in the Transfiguration scene (Mt 17) – window to the Second Coming in Glory. They saw His Glory – and with Him Moses of the Law and Elijah of the pre-Christian prophets. Peter – the type of the petrine dimension in the Church – would have the primacy of governance, the papacy. James, type of the jacobian dimension, the first apostolic martyr, would have the primacy of self-sacrifice in blood after Christ. John – type of the johannine dimension in the Church – has the primacy of divine [agapaō] love – holy supernatural charity – in the Church: John “the Beloved Disciple.”

The author's full conclusion,

Conclusion:
The above shows prophesies from Scripture – the Old and the New Covenants – that reveal God’s faithfulness to His Faithful Ones, the true Church personified in the Blessed Mother Mary. God remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself: Nothing unclean can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. All are called to holiness and the perfection of Charity; thanks be to God for Purgatory. Hence my conclusion: the Church will remain; the papacy will fall.