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The Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, in n. 23, became perhaps the
first Council to treat of the Patriarchal institution in a document that
is not merely disciplinary but explicitly doctrinal in its nature and
intent.
The present study pursues four distinct lines of inquiry for the purpose
of shedding light on the Patriarchal institution in the context of Catholic
ecclesiology. Part One explores the phenomenon of diversity within God's
people in the Old Testament, and also considers the ecclesial structures
that have developed in the Church's history in the light of the data of
the New Testament. Part Two examines the developing notion of the Patriarchal
institution during the first two Christian millennia, focusing especially
on those Councils that contributed to the development of the notion even
without actually using the term "Patriarch". Part Three considers
the discussions of the antepreparatory and preparatory periods of Vatican
II as well as the Council's sessions in regard both to the Patriarchal
institution and to relevant matters such as the sacramentality of the
Episcopacy and collegiality. And Part Four, after considering the contributions
of several post-Conciliar Western theologians and other writers (including
the present Pope Benedict XVI, formerly J. Ratzinger; Y. Congar; G. Greshake;
A. Garuti; and G. Nedungatt), proposes a working essential description
for the Patriarchal institution, and seeks to answer several timely questions
in its regard, including: the terminology to be used in reference to the
Patriarchal institution; the nature, source and extension of Patriarchal
authority; the similarities and differences between Patriarchates and
Conferences of Bishops; the question of the development or establishment
of new Patriarchates; and the Pope's distinct role as Patriarch within
the Latin Church.
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