What is it about?
Pope Francis' prophetic action reflects the ecumenical vision of Karl Rahner's view of a papal ministry for a unified Christian Church. We outline Rahner's theology and demonstrate that two elements, communion and subsidiarity, are essential for the Jesuit theologian's recommendations for the exercise of papal authority as a ministry for the whole church that respects continuing local traditions. The subsidiarity principle provides a heuristic to understand Francis' prophetic exercise of his ministry in both local dioceses and among non-Roman Catholic Christian Churches. Rahner had prepared this path.
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Why is it important?
With the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's prophetic act in Wittenberg, there is much attention being paid that history of reform and division - but also to the great recent strides of ecumenical efforts. Pope Francis is supporting these efforts, but his actions are less in dogmatic pronouncements, and more in prophetic deeds. Understanding the theology of the Jesuit Rahner helps us understand just what this Jesuit pope is up to. It is perhaps as mundane and world-changing as nailing a list of grievances to a door.
Perspectives
Prof. Nikolaus Knoepffler is an expert on the theology of Karl Rahner, among many other topics, especially in the field of applied ethics. I work with him in Jena, Germany and share interests in both theology and philosophy. Knoepffler prepared the work in focus and argument, and I contributed a background in historical theology, and specifically an interest in the principle of subsidiarity. That said, this final work was a product of intellectual dialogue and discovery. We had written the theoretical part first and were amazed at just how well our heuristic sheds light on just about every significant action and written work generated by Pope Francis. Joseph Komonchak deserves special recognition for his 1988 work on the application of subsidiarity to the Church. Komanchak's masterful research clearly benefited from his personal experience of the Second Vatican Council.
Dr. Martin J OMalley
Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Karl Rahner and Pope Francis on Papal Ministry, Ecclesiology, January 2017, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/17455316-01301005.
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