Christopher Ruddy, associate professor, systematic theology, was quoted in a National Catholic Register story on the role of the pope in selecting bishops.
... Stepping back from the recent crisis in the Church, Christopher Ruddy, an associate professor of systematic theology at The Catholic University of America, traced the shifting role of the pope in the selection of bishops across the arc of Church history.
In the early Church, “most famously, St. Ambrose was acclaimed and chosen as bishop by the people of Milan,” said Ruddy. “He wasn’t even baptized.”
And in the Middle Ages, monarchs and local rulers were in firm control of the process. As late as the 19th century, the pope had very limited powers in this regard.
“In 1829, when Pope Leo XII died, there were 646 diocesan bishops in the Latin Churches,” said Ruddy. ...
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