The Origin of the Pope's Monarchic-Absolutist Power
Leonardo Boff
Theologian
Earthcharter Commission
We have previously written that the crisis of the
institution-hierarchy-Church is rooted in the absolute concentration of power in
the person of the pope, power exercised in an absolutist form, with no
participation of the Christians. This creates practically insurmountable
obstacles for ecumenical dialogue with other Churches.
It was not that way at the beginning. The Church was a fraternal
community. The figure of the pope did not yet exist. The Church was led by the
emperor, rather than by the bishops of Rome or of Constantinople, the two
capitals of the empire, because he was the Supreme Pontiff (Pontifex
Maximus). Thus, emperor Constantine called the first ecumenical council of
Nice (325) to resolve the question of the divinity of Christ. Even in the VI
century, the primacy of right was claimed by emperor Justinian, who reunited the
Western and the Eastern sections of the Empire, rather than the bishop of Rome.
Nonetheless, since the tombs of Peter and Paul are in Rome, the Roman Church had
special prestige. Her bishop, before the others, had the "presence in
love" and "performed Peter's service," that of "confirming in
the faith", but not Peter's supremacy in leadership.
Everything changed with pope Leo I (440-461), a great jurist and
statesman. He copied the Roman form of power, namely, the emperor's absolutism
and authoritarianism, and began to interpret strictly in juridical terms the
three texts of the New Gospel related to Peter: Peter as the rock on which the
Church would be built (Mt 16,18), Peter as the one who confirms in the faith (Lk
22,32), and Peter as Shepherd, who has to care for His flock, (Jn 21,15). The
biblical and Jesuanic meaning follows a totally different path: one of
love, service and renunciation of any honor. But the absolutist reading of Roman
law predominated. Consequently, Leo I assumed the title of Supreme Pontiff and
Pope in the proper sense. Thereafter, other popes began to use the imperial
insignia and apparel, the purple, the mitre, the golden throne, staff, stoles,
pallium, and cape. Palaces with their courts were established, and palatial
habits were introduced that cardinals and bishops still retain to the present.
This scandalizes more than a few Christians, who read in the gospels that Jesus
of Nazareth was a poor laborer, without pomp. Thus it began to be clear that the
leaders are closer to Herod's palace than to Bethlehem's manger.
But there is a phenomenon that is hard to fathom: in the drive
to legitimize this transformation and guarantee the absolute power of the pope,
a series of false documents was forged. First, a purported letter from pope
Clement (+96), Peter's successor in Rome, addressed to James, the brother of the
Lord, the great pastor of Jerusalem, in which he said that before he died, Peter
had determined that he, Clement, and evidently the others who would come after,
would be the sole legitimate successors. A still greater falsification was the
famous Gift from Constantine, a document forged in the period Leo I,
according to which Constantine made a gift of the entire Roman empire to the
pope of Rome. Later on, during the disputes with the French kings, there was
another great fabrication, the Pseudo decrees of Isidore, a collection of
false documents and letters that reinforced the juridical primacy of the Roman
pope, presented as if they were from the first centuries. It all culminated
in the XIII century with the Codex of Gratian, that became the basis
of canon law, but which derived from falsifications and norms that reinforced
the central power of Rome, together with actual canons that had circulated among
the churches. Of course, this was all unmasked later on, but without a single
modification of the absolutism of the popes. Still, it is lamentable, and mature
Christians should know the tricks used and conceived to create a form of power
that is totally contrary to the ideals of Jesus, and that obscures the
fascinating Christian message,which is the carrier of a new type of exercise of
power, one that is helpful and participative.
Subsequently there was a crescendo of the power of the popes:
Gregory VII (+1085) in his Dictatus Papae (The Pope's
Dictatorship) proclaimed himself to be the absolute lord of the Church and
of the world; Innocence III (+1216) declared himself the vicar-representative of
Christ and finally, Innocence IV (+1254) elevated himself to the representative
of God. As such, under Pius IX in 1870, the pope was proclaimed infallible in
the areas of doctrine and morality. Curiously, none of these excesses has ever
been denounced or corrected by the hierarchical Church, because they benefit the
hierarchy. They continue to be a source of scandal for those who still believe
in the Nazarene, a poor, humble artisan and Middle Eastern peasant, persecuted,
crucified and resurrected to rise up against all grabs for power and more power,
even within the Church. The contrary understanding clearly omits something: the
true vicars-representatives of Christ, according to the Gospel of Jesus of
Nazareth (Mt 25,45) are the poor, the thirsty and the hungry. And the hierarchy
of the Roman Catholic Church exists to serve them, not to take over from them.
09-21-2012
Free translation from the Spanish
by
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas,
EE.UU.
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- "Solo los obreros y los campesinos iran hasta el fin, solo su fuerza organizada lograra el triunfo"
A. C. Sandino
- "de todas las clases que hoy se enfrentan con la burguesia, solo el proletariado es una clase verdaderamente revolucionaria"
C. Marx y F. Engels, Manifiesto del Partido Comunista
- "Sin Teoria Revolucionaria no hay Movimiento Revolucionario"
V. Ilich Ulianov - Lenin
- "Compañeros obreros y campesinos, esta es la Revolución socialista y democrática de los humildes, con los humildes y para los humildes. Y por esta Revolución de los humildes, por los humildes y para los humildes, estamos dispuestos a dar la vida... "
Fidel Castro R. -1961
- "Después de Nerón Somoza, la Revolución Popular Sandinista. Tal es la aspiración del movimiento guerrillero nicaragüense inspirado por el ideal justiciero de Carlos Marx, Augusto César Sandino y Ernesto Che Guevara, ideal de liberación nacional y socialismo, ideal de soberanía, tierra y trabajo, ideal de justicia y libertad"
Carlos Fonseca A. - 1969
- "los terminos medios son la antesala de la traición"
Ernesto Che Guevara
- "Tenemos que hacer una lucha revolucionaria, y eso pasa, por forjar conciencia de clase, lo decía Marx... Se necesita ¡la conciencia de clase! para ser revolucionario; para no convertirse en un instrumento de la contrarrevolución"
Daniel Ortega S. - 30-04-2008
- "Aqui en Venezuela, nuestra batalla es una expresión de la lucha de clases : El pueblo, las clases populares y los pobres contra los ricos y los ricos contra los pobres y los sectores populares"
Hugo Chavez F. - 30-11-2008
- "que no se reblandezcan con los cantos de sirena del enemigo y tengan conciencia de que por su esencia, nunca dejará de ser agresivo, dominante y traicionero; que no se aparten jamás de nuestros obreros, campesinos y el resto del pueblo; que la militancia impida que destruyan al Partido"
Raoúl Castro R.
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