„Fides quaerens dialogum”. Prymat biskupa Rzymu w dialogu z Kościołami Wschodu

Abstract

The Second Vatican Council created a new perspective for the ecumenical dialogue with the Eastern Churches which are not in full unity with the Roman Catholic Church. The notion of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome is an important theological issue within this dialogue. The subject of primacy ought to be considered with reference to the mystery of the Church established by Jesus Christ. Since 1980 it is possible to speak of an institutionalized dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church on world stage. It results in the documents prepared by mixed committees and jointly accepted. The office of St. Peter’s Successor has been shaped throughout centuries and developing alongside the whole community of those who believe in Jesus Christ. The primacy of the Bishop of Rome is a service of togetherness and shows above all St. Peter’s Successor’s concern for the communion of all particular (local) Churches. The Roman Catholic Church emphasiz­es that the realization of the indicated task requires an authority and exact knowledge. It cannot be merely an honorary primacy devoid of jurisdiction. The Eastern Churches see the primacy of the Bishop of Rome as an honorary, and not jurisdictional, precedence. St. Peter’s Successor is primus inter pares, the first among equal patriarchs. What is clearly visible here is the supremacy of the Vatican Council (synodality) over the office of the Pope. The contemporary appreciation of collegiality and synodality in the statements from the Roman Catholic magistrates and theologians’ research on their implications may be­come a new impulse in the ecumenical dialogue with the Churches of the East.