Posted on 07/20/2007 8:00:42 AM PDT by NYer
Suffer the little children, indeed!
The position of the pope vis-a-vis bishops is something like that of the President and Congress vis-a-vis federal judges. They can appoint and Congress can remove, but in practice the control that they have over federal judges is extremely limited. A handful of federal judges have been removed from office in the more than 200 years of the existence of the federal judiciuary. Today the pope authority in the Church is probably greater than ever before in history, but his greatest power is the power to persuade.
Good article, although the analogy can be shaky. The Church moves bishops around... my own retired, and was replaced. That goes against the ‘continuity’ expressed in this article. However, I firmly believe that the Pope is the true pastoral father / bishop on earth. I look to him as much, if not more, to my own bishop. And I am still in a wait-and-see mode with my bishop.... he seems fine.
Roger that!!!!!
Roger? LOL!
Ping for later
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