Habemus Papam!

It was noted last week that a new pope is not a novel event but a continuing reality in the Church. Jesus clearly meant for there to be one Church, His Church, and not a plethora of quarreling factions. For example, Jesus teaches that “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector” (Mt 18:15-17). As things stand today, if a divorced man marries your sister and he does not have an annulment, you should challenge him to seek an annulment for his sake and the sake of your sister. He refuses to listen. So several siblings appeal to him and he still refuses to listen. At this point, to what church would the appeal belong? If your sister’s husband is a methodist, is that the right church? If the man and your sister were married in a baptist church, would the case be brought to them? Would the case be brought to the Catholic Church since your sister is a Catholic? Different answers will come from different denominations, and almost all of them would simply punt on what Jesus clearly taught about marriage: “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate… I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful [i.e., morally obscene]) and marries another commits adultery” (Mt 19:4-6, 9).

Jesus likewise asserted the necessity of their being one unified Church at the Last Supper. “And now, [Father], I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are… I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” (Jn 17:11, 20-23). It is clear from what Jesus says here that the spread of the Gospel is contingent on the unity of the Church, and it is also clear that evangelization is hardly progressing in this age of denominational division. Why should the world take Christians seriously if one group says adultery is tolerable, that others say immoral unions are permissible, that baptism is utterly unnecessary, that baptism is necessary but only for adults, that baptism is necessary for salvation for people of every age, and so on?

More could be said of the need for there to be but one, unified Church. It must also be noted that Jesus established a degree of organization, a hierarchy among His followers. There were followers, there were more committed followers called disciples, and then there were the twelve Apostles. A clear distinction exists between these groups. Followers came and went but did not go everywhere Jesus went. Those who followed Jesus more consistently would be called disciples. And the Apostles were called by Jesus specifically to form His core disciples. Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were devout followers of Jesus. Matthias, Stephen, and Barsabbas are examples of disciples, and the Apostles are listed explicitly. Even among the Twelve it is indisputable that Peter, James, and John formed Jesus’ innermost circle of followers. Prime among these three is clearly Peter. Indeed, Jesus again says at the Last Supper “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you [plural] like wheat, but I have prayed that your [singular] own faith may not fail; and once you [singular] have turned back, you [singular] must strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:31-32). Just as Peter is the one selected to feed and tend Jesus’ sheep, he is also the only one called to strengthen his brother Apostles after Jesus’ arrest, Passion, and Resurrection. Peter’s role is and remains unique.

—Fr Booth