RUB Conference: Pope Francis' Ecclesiology of Leadership

The conversation about the leadership of the laity within the church continued with Dr, Michael Bohnke, Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Wuppertal. Focusing on the baptismal call to the common priesthood, especially as evident in the Vatican II documents, addressed the right of the faithful as named in Sacrosanctum Concilium.  He suggests that the right of the faithful to full, active, and conscious participation is demanded by the very nature of liturgy.

He goes on to say that we need to rethink current forms of leadership, in light of Vatican II which saw leadership as a multi-faceted task: not control and command, but traveling together. His model for this is the ecclesiology Pope Francis has given us from his first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter's.

Pope Francis Ecclesiology of Leadership

When the new Pope first introduced himself as the bishop of Rome he asked people to pray for him so that he could bless them.  This, according to Bohnke, was much more than a thoughtful moment. It contained a deep ecclesiology of leadership which sees the the essential connection between the People of God and the bishop.

• A bishop can only bless people because the people have first asked God to bless the bishop. The source of the bishop's authority rests in the People of God making this request.  In other words, the prayer of the church is the theological pre-condition of the bishop's authority who can only act as a blessed one.
• People need the bishop's blessing. No one can bless themselves.  Only God can bless them and so they request that the bishop be authorized or blessed by God to make this blessing.
• Together bishops and the People of God depend on the fidelity of God which finds its expression in the blessing of the bishop.

Pope Francis  is telling us that authority is mediated through the prayer of the church, both missionary and prophetic authority.  This, according to Bohnke, is a radical theology of the laity. In other words, he has gone back to the early church's understanding of the need for epiclesis (the prayer of the church) recognizing the essential inter-connection of the baptized with the ordained. 

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My Reflection

This post is only a brief glimpse at what was a well developed argument.  However, it contains a truth that I have long believed and which we seldom discuss.  There is an intrinsic connection between the priesthood of the laity and the priesthood of the ordained; not one that confuses the differences, but rather one that is essential for the life of the church.  Bishops do not have authority because they have somehow "magically" been placed over the community, nor does the community have authority only because it has somehow "magically" been given such by the bishop.  Both ideas leave out our dependence on God!  We, the baptized - all of us, are one in receiving the love and fidelity of God who first became human in Jesus and then authorized the disciples.  And so we need each other as we set out on our common mission to bring about the kingdom of God.