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Skriven 2006-03-28 21:25:14 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

CLARIFICATION ON PAPAL TITLE OF "PATRIARCH OF THE WEST"

VATICAN CITY, MAR 22, 2006 (VIS) - In the wake of media comments concerning one
of the Pope's titles - that of "Patriarch of the West" - which did not appear
among the list of papal titles at the beginning of this year's edition of the
"Annuario Pontificio" (pontifical yearbook), the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity has issued a communique clarifying the reasons for
the omission.

"From a historical perspective," the communique reads, "the ancient
Patriarchates of the East, defined by the Councils of Constantinople (381) and
of Chalcedon (451), covered a fairly clearly demarcated territory. At the same
time, the territory of the see of the Bishop of Rome remained somewhat vague.
In the East, under the ecclesiastical imperial system of Justinian (527-565),
alongside the four Eastern Patriarchates (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch
and Jerusalem), the Pope was included as the Patriarch of the West. Rome, on
the other hand, favored the idea of the three Petrine episcopal sees: Rome,
Alexandria and Antioch. Without using the title 'Patriarch of the West,' the
Fourth Council of Constantinople (869-870), the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
and the Council of Florence (1439), listed the Pope as the first of the then
five Patriarchs.

"The title 'Patriarch of the West' was adopted in the year 642 by Pope
Theodore. Thereafter it appeared only occasionally and did not have a clear
meaning. It flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the
context of a general increase in the Pope's titles, and appeared for the first
time in the 'Annuario Pontificio' in 1863."

The term 'West' currently refers to a cultural context not limited only to
Western Europe but including North America, Australia and New Zealand, thus
differentiating itself from other cultural contexts, says the communique. "If
we wished to give the term 'West' a meaning applicable to ecclesiastical
juridical language, it could be understood only in reference to the Latin
Church." In this way, the title "Patriarch of the West," would describe the
Bishop of Rome's special relationship with the Latin Church, and his special
jurisdiction over her.

"The title 'Patriarch of the West,' never very clear, over history has become
obsolete and practically unusable. It seems pointless, then, to insist on
maintaining it. Even more so now that the Catholic Church, with Vatican Council
II, has found, in the form of episcopal conferences and their international
meetings, the canonical structure best suited to the needs of the Latin Church
today."

The communique concludes: "Abandoning the title of 'Patriarch of the West'
clearly does not alter in any way the recognition of the ancient patriarchal
Churches, so solemnly declared by Vatican Council II. ... The renouncement of
this title aims to express a historical and theological reality, and at the
same time, ... could prove useful to ecumenical dialogue."
CON-UC/PATRIARCH OF THE WEST/... VIS 060322 (480)

SUMMARY

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