This became a topic of spirited discussion in the Synod sessions of Oct. 12.
In his address to the Synod Oct. 12, Bishop Vartan Waldir Boghossian of San Gregoriao de Narek said the spiritual authority of the Patriarchs as “fathers and leaders of their churches” must be affirmed and "must not be limited to a territory.”
Bishop Bohossian, who oversees Armenian Catholics in Latin America and Mexico, said the spiritual authority of the Patriarchs as “fathers and leaders of their churches” must be affirmed and "must not be limited to a territory.”
He said that it is not easy to understand why the authority and jurisdiction of 22 Eastern Churches are confined to their territories while the "Latin Church" is not subject to the same limitations, the bishop said.
As a result, Eastern Catholic churches “struggle to maintain their identity and growth, especially in the West,” despite their historic and ongoing importance in the life of the universal Church.
“Limiting it to its faithful is perfectly logical, but not limiting them to a territory, especially if there are no longer members of the Church in that territory," he asserted.
Patriarchs having "full jurisdiction” over their faithful “in all the continents would be ... a concrete anticipation of a state of full communion," he said.
He said also that Church law should be changed so that Eastern Patriarchs take "precedence" over cardinals in the Church’s hierarchy and should be automatically entitled to vote in papal elections without the need for the title of "cardinal."
In an interview with CNA on Oct. 14, Msgr. Maurizio Malvestiti, subsecretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Oriental Churches, said Bishop Boghossian’s proposal is a sign of the desire of Eastern Catholics to “to make the communion of these churches more intense with the Pope.”
He pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI has publicly shown his esteem for the Eastern patriarchs. He noted that during his first Mass as Pontiff, on April 24, 2005, the Pope had the six eastern patriarchs beside him. "It was as if to say, ‘We are the Christian origins, living signs of the origins, Peter with the six Eastern patriarchs',” Msgr. Malvestiti said.
As to the specifics of Bishop Boghossian’s proposals, Msgr. Malvestiti said the issues must be looked at from “an ecclesiological point of view” as well as from a historical perspective.
(Story continues below)
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