Does it *really *matter whether the Papacy as we see it today existed prior to the Great Schism? Or any other date, for that matter?
I don’t think it does, and Fr. Adrian Fortescue explains why.
On the Development of Papal Jurisdiction
From The Early Papacy to the Synod of Chalcedon in 451
By Fr. Adrian Fortescue
In his book originally published in 1920, Fr. Fortescue explains the expansion of the Papal Jurisdiction like this:
Has the papacy grown? In a sense it has, just as every dogma of the Church may be said to have grown…when a point of faith is disputed, when some new heresy arises, the Church makes her mind clear by defining more explicitly what she has always held. She forbids a false interpretation of the faith, and so she makes it more definite. Hence, vague statements, harmless before the controversy began, become impossible after the definition. But we do not admit that this development means any real addition to the faith; it is only a more explicit assertion of the old faith, necessary in view of false interpretations. A conspicuous case of this is the declaration of papal infallibility by the First Vatican Council. The Early Church recognized that the Pope has the final word in matters of faith, no less than in those of discipline, that she herself is protected by God against heresy. Put that together, and you have, implicitly, what the Council defined.
Besides this there has been real growth in the use of the Pope’s authority. Many matters, such as canonizations of saints, approval of religious orders and so on, once settled by the bishop of the diocese now go to Rome. Appeals are far more frequent and about smaller matters. Patriarchal and metropolitan authority over bishops has diminished very much. There has been a constant process of centralizing. This was caused in several ways. Increased facilities of communication with headquarters had something to do with it. At one time, to appeal to Rome meant a serious journey for the bearer of the letter; now it costs but a few pennies in 1920 - Randy]. Then there is the natural tendency of any society toward centralization. We can observe this almost everywhere. It becomes so much easier, shorter; it saves so much trouble to go straight to headquarters at once. Then you have the decision of the supreme authority and no possibility of further dispute.
…The spectacle of the anarchy of Protestantism, a spectacle offered to us more plainly each century, has its effects on Catholics. That is what comes of “No Popery”. What Catholic, seeing the state of Protestantism today, does not thank God that he has given to us an authority to settle disputes of religion? (Fortescue, Adrian, The Early Papacy to the Synod of Chalcedon in 451, pp.35-36, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2008.)
To be sure, some have been enjoying the debate over canons and councils in this thread immensely, but at the end of the day, what remains? The simple fact that the papacy has developed in response to the needs of the Church that has grown just as Jesus said it would.
Matthew 13:31-32
31 Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
