The Papacy By Enda Conlon The primacy of the Bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter goes back to the earliest days of the Church. The principle titles of the Pope are “Bishop of Rome”  “Successor of Peter” and “Vicar of Christ”, “Servant of the servants of God” A pope is elected by the College of Cardinals (currently numbering about 120)  in a conclave which meets in Rome  9 days after the death of a serving pope. The election of a Pope is conducted  according to a traditional and colourful   procedure. The assembled cardinals hold two ballots each day  - one in the morning and one in the afternoon  - until someone receives the votes of 2/3 plus 1  of the cardinal electors. The cardinals do not necessarily have to vote for one of their number – but in practice they always do.  The outcome of  an inconclusive ballot  is indicated to the world by the burning of the ballot papers with damp straw so as to produce black smoke. The first announcement of a conclusive ballot is made by the burning of the ballot papers without straw to produce white smoke. The newly elected pope is invited to choose a name . The announcement to the world is made by the Cardinal Camerlengo from the balcony of St. Peter’s using the time honoured formula : “I announce to you a great joy – we have a Pope – His Eminence Cardinal XXX who has taken the name YYY” Nowadays the cardinals are free, as far as one can tell, to choose a Pope according to their own prayerful  judgements.   Historically this has not always been the case and the election of a Pope has been an area where the tension between temporal and spiritual authority has been most strongly felt. As recently as 100 years ago The Emperor of Austria- Hungary, Franz Josef, entered a veto against Cardinal Rampolla who had received 29 votes out of a possible 62 in the conclave following the death of Leo XIII in 1903. The conclave went on to elect Pius X who has been subsequently canonised.  This is, as far as I know, the last example of  attempt by a secular power directly to interfere in the election of a Pope. However the tension between temporal and spiritual authority remains unresolved and is perhaps most clearly seen today in China. The Papacy is the oldest institution of the western world and the rituals of ancient Rome still survive in Papal ceremony. The nature of the Papacy has however  changed over the centuries. With respect to the whole Catholic church  the functions of the Pope are basically those of a bishop  in his diocese  - to teach, to govern and to sanctify. The Pope teaches by issuing encyclicals ; he governs by making episcopal appointments  and he sanctifies by example by conducting public worship and by visiting and encouraging the faithful. The role of the Papacy  may continue to change and the present Pope has, in recent years, offered to discuss the role of the Papacy  to the extent that the office is seen as being an obstacle to Christian Unity.   What does the Petrinc ministry do for the Church ?. Inside the dome of St. Peter’s the text “Thou are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven” is written in very large gold letters. Part of the Catholic mindset is a gut loyalty to the see of Rome as the rock that stands against the ever swirling tides of secular thinking and political pressures. You might think that the bishops of a local hierarchy would be sturdy , independent-minded chaps who could be relied upon to preserve the faith of the apostles against the pressures of the time. You couldn’t be further wrong. Historically they have been appallingly frail vessels. When the temper of the times exalt the power of the state the Church will be infected by erastianism ; when the temper of the times are racist or anti-semitic the Church will be infected by racism or ant-semitism. When the temper of the times are licentious, as today,  the Church will be infected by licentiousness. For instance,  in 1535 when the king abrogated Magna Carts and usurped the spiritual prerogatives of the Church in England, only one bishop resisted to the end – the bishop of Rochester  in Kent  - John Fisher. To Catholics like me the Petrine ministry has been one of the principal means by which the promise of Christ to be with the Church for all days even unto the end of the world continues to be kept. The doctrine of  papal infallibility, proclaimed 130 years ago,  gives formal expression to the Catholic sense that the see of Rome is our particular guarantor of continued fidelity to the faith and morals of the apostles. It is not a triumphalist position but just an assurance that in loyalty to and communion with the Bishop of Rome, we Catholics, despite everything,  can hang on in there. The Bishop of Rome makes peculiarly his own the words of Paul to Timothy “Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient …… for the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine.”    Return to R.C.I.A. menu                Back to the top
		Human Dignity, Drugs and the Catholic Church By Enda Conlon More than any other institution, the Catholic Church believes ,in the dignity of the individual person. In the Church’s view the  institutions of society  -  from the family to  the state  – exist  to promote the flourishing and ultimately the salvation of the individual person. Not vice-versa.  As part of its overall vision of  the human person as being created in the image and likeness of God the Church  believes in the  dignity  of the human body. Theologically the doctrines most expressive of this are  the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Resurrection. of the body. Historically the Church has always been uncomfortable with, and suspicious of,  things that seem to  coarsen or diminish the human person. For a long time the Church was uneasy with the dissection of dead bodies for medical purposes -  its concern was for the respect due to  the dead.. The Church has come to accept that the ends of medical science can be served without any necessary loss of respect for the deceased human person. Similarly  in viewing the  spectrum of possibilities made available by modern medical and pharmaceutical  technology the Church seeks to distinguish  what promotes the natural functioning  of the body from  what , in the Church’s view, subverts it.  For  instance the Church  takes the view, eloquently reiterated in recent years in  the encyclicals Veritatis Splendor and Fides et Ratio, (the Splendour of Truth  and Faith and Reason)   that the proper use of the human mind is, in the broadest sense,  to seek the  truth – moral, religious and scientific. The use of hallucinatory drugs which subvert the natural functioning of the mind  is in the Church’s view intrinsically disordered –  an “intrinsice malum” . The deepest Catholic feeling is that this kind of activity represents an abuse of God’s gift of life. Similarly there is a  Catholic suspicion of the   habitual use of sedative , tranquillising, mood altering and psychiatric control drugs.. It does not seem that the anaesthetising of  our minds and our emotions  is in the spirit of the words of our Lord “ I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly”. The Catholic Church and  the Contraceptive Mentality The Church’s refusal, reiterated by Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, to endorse  the systematic use of contraceptive drugs   should be understood as part of an overall stance.  Firstly the Church feels that it cannot be right to interfere in the natural  operation of the body where there is no question of illness or malfunction.  Secondly the Church  dislikes what  might be called the contraceptive mentality. This is a collection of attitudes which we can to some extent disentangle. (a) sexuality is such a blind  and irresistible passion that it is not subject to control by moral choice and consequently mass chemical contraception is the only means to mitigate the consequences of  inevitable and uncontrollable sexual activity.   There is here a patronising contempt for human nature. In this attitude The Church sees an infringement of human dignity and  an undermining of our free will  and capacity for moral behaviour . Our sexual  behaviour is  not blindly compulsive and is subject to moral choice. Of course people have sexual temptations, just as they have temptations to steal. The humanly worthy solution for the last problem is to encourage the virtue of honesty both personally and socially. The humanly worthy solution to the first problem is to encourage the virtues of self respect and chastity both personally and socially. (b) sex is a pleasant recreational activity  for consenting adults and contraception makes it harmless. and risk free. The Catholic Church thinks that this is a trivial and completely inadequate view of the realities of human relationships. The Church’s view is that  the mutual giving  of sexual relationships is an intimate, serious and vulnerable business which is deeply tied to our  self respect  and sense of self worth. Where there is no mutual giving – as in prostitution or in exploitative sexual relationships  or in the production and use of pornography – the Church sees sexual activity as, at best,  coarsening and cheapening  the personality  and, at worst, as profoundly and permanently damaging. In short, the Catholic Church is serious about sex.. (b) not only is it a good thing that sexual relationships have been freed from associations with committed relationships but it is an even better thing that it has been freed from association with  procreation. The Church  does not endorse the deliberate and intentional exclusion of  procreative potential from sexual relationships. A marriage contracted on a – of course, we’re having no kids  -  basis , is not in the Church’s eyes a valid  marriage  and would be as liable for annulment as a marriage contracted on a – of course, we’re not going to sleep  with each other – basis. The Church  thinks that the proper context of sexual activity is a faithful relationship   between a man and a woman whose ultimate purpose is the procreation and  bringing up of children.. The Church therefore considers  that sexual relationships  which systematically, intentionally, permanently and of their very nature, exclude  or subvert this ultimate purpose  are wrong. This, of course,  puts the Church’s views at odds with much of current secular thinking on these topics. So, what else is new ? Sins of the Flesh and  Sins of the Spirit In traditional Catholic terminology sexual sins (along with the that of gluttony) are known as “sins of the flesh”.  This is in contrast  to “sins of the spirit” like pride, envy or sloth.  Traditional Catholic thinking  is that  the sins of the spirit are worse than  the sins of the flesh.  The sins of the flesh are typically succumbed to in moments of weakness and, often no sooner committed than regretted. This view may be slightly outdated as there seems to be increasing evidence that ubiquitously available pornography has made the sins of the flesh more addictive  than for previous generations. By contrast the sin of Pride  which corrupts the self respect  that we rightly  feel  as creatures in the image and likeness of God into a contempt for other  human persons  is the first and the worst of the deadly sins. It is so because it renders impossible the practice of the greatest of the Christian virtues - charity.  People are often tempted to the sin of Pride by  dubious science about superiority conferred by   aristocratic breeding, or race, or more recently talent and intelligence.. The natural sins of the flesh are  the most understandable, the most human and the most forgivable of the  sins to which our nature is prone.  In dealing with them the Church  and Christians generally should be  mindful of  the mildness of our Lord in dealing with the woman facing stoning for adultery. To her Jesus said “Neither do I condemn you – go away and from this moment sin no more”.   Traditionally the Church, Christian society at large and indeed arguably Our Lord in the “Better that a millstone … “ text has been more severe in their attitude to what Christian tradition  regards as  the  unnatural sins of the flesh.   These the Church regards as “intrinsically disordered”. Sex and Worship The Church views sexuality as a gift of God to our human natures. In the early centuries the Church lived in a culture whose instinct was to entwine sexuality and religion. This is the religion of  the fertility cults, of vestal virgins , temple prostitutes  and orgiastic ceremonies.. This sort of religion has, understandably,  always had its attractions and its adherents and , from  time to time , still resurfaces.in the modern world.  However the Judeo-Christian tradition decisively opposes the entwining of the erotic and religious impulses in our natures. While ,of course, we glorify God   through the expression of our sexuality, as through the fulfilment of any other side of our human nature – as Christians we should not forget that what makes us, above all, creatures in the image and likeness of God – is the faculty of our understanding and not our sexuality. Under the general topic of Sex and the Catholic Church  four topics occurred to me, which I thought we might usefully discuss.: 1Human Dignity, the role of Drugs and the Catholic Church. General issue here is  to distinguish when drugs are healing the body and enabling us “to have life more abundantly” or when they amount to  an abuse of our natures or they “cure” by diminishing our capacity to be fully alive. 2. The Catholic Church and the Contraceptive Mentality The Church has an integrated ,holistic view of sexuality and  its  role in relationships and in procreation.  We will try and compare this with current secular thinking. 3.The Sins of the Flesh and  the sins of the Spirit It is a good thing to remember that the Church does not now and never has rated the sexual sins  as especially   wicked  as compared with the sins of the Spirit – especially that of  pride. Sexual virtue is an important but by no means the principal component of Christian virtue. The Church is not obsessed with sex. 4. Sex and Worshop Historically sex and worship have been connected. The Judeo-Christian tradition is to respect God’s gift of  sexuality to our human natures but not to incorporate it in worship.      Return to R.C.I.A. menu                Back to the top