October 16, 2018

Chad Pecknold, associate professor, theology, was quoted in a Catholic News Agency story about the superior general of the Jesuits insinuating that the Pope is not “chief” of the Church.

... “Fr. Sosa is certainly correct to say that the pope is the Bishop of Rome, but it would be a mistake to infer from that title that the Holy Father is merely ‘first among equals,’” Chad Pecknold, Associate Professor of Theology at the Catholic University of America, told CNA.

Pecknold told CNA that popes often and correctly speak of their “brother bishops,” but that the Petrine office is unique.

 The pope “holds an office of supreme authority over every bishop in communion with him, and of course over the faithful too. It isn’t a charism of dominance but of paternal care - the popes traditionally use the title ‘servant of the servants of God.’” ...

Continue reading at the Catholic News Agency.