Why I Cannot in Good Conscience be a Roman Catholic: The Papal Dogmas

[ziapueblo]

As I often wish to remind people is that the last paragraph of the Note on the Expression Sister Churches:

1. Finally, it must also be borne in mind that the expression sister Churches in the proper sense, as attested by the common Tradition of East and West, may only be used for those ecclesial communities that have preserved a valid Episcopate and Eucharist.

Which the Catholic Church teaches that the Orthodox have. So it is totally acceptable for Pope Francis, as bishop of Rome, to address the Church of Constantinople, headed by Bartholomew I, as a sister Church.

ZP

 

[steve-b]

As I often wish to remind people is that the last paragraph of the Note on the Expression Sister Churches:

1. Finally, it must also be borne in mind that the expression sister Churches in the proper sense, as attested by the common Tradition of East and West, may only be used for those ecclesial communities that have preserved a valid Episcopate and Eucharist.

Which the Catholic Church teaches that the Orthodox have. So it is totally acceptable for Pope Francis, as bishop of Rome, to address the Church of Constantinople, headed by Bartholomew I, as a sister Church.

ZP

From the 2nd link, HERE written 13 yrs after the first link was written, to clarify “sister Churches” in the first link

excerpt (emphasis mine)

"The expression “Sister Churches” is not theological but historical and (in recent years) diplomatic. Fr. Adriano Garuti, O.F.M., a professor of ecclesiology and ecumenism who has served with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, writes: “The intention behind such language is the establishment of the reality of sister Churches as a possible way to ‘envisage reunion among divided traditions as a family reconciliation’…. One does get the impression, however, that a certain ambiguity and lack of continuity prevail in the use of the term.” The uses and misuses of this expression are examined in depth in his essay “Sister Churches: Reality and Questions” (reprinted in the book Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Ecumenical Dialogue by the same author.) If interested HERE

The early Church in the East was organized not only by locality but regionally. A “Metropolia” united several local eparchies and/or archeparchies in an administrative unit. Within such a unit, two neighboring eparchies would be regarded as “Daughter Churches” of the Metropolia and therefore “Sister Churches” to one another. Fr. Garuti notes “the special sensibility of the Eastern Christians for the fraternity that exists among the individual [local] Churches [2]”. He immediately goes on to add, however, that “when it is a question of the principles on which to build unity, … the [Universal Catholic] Church [3] cannot be considered a sister [e.g. to the Orthodox Churches (2)], but rather the Mother of the local Churches.”

"When Pope Francis referred to himself as “the Bishop of Rome” in his first public speech on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, he was humbly acknowledging that in the first place he had been elected the Bishop of Rome, a local Church. As Bishop of Rome he can greet Orthodox bishops of other localities as “brother bishops”, since they head “sister Churches [2]”. But the Bishop of Rome is also ex officio the Pastor of the Universal Church [3], and there is no corresponding office or “unit” in the Orthodox world, nor could there ever be. "

 

[steve-b]

steve-b:

Re: clarification of terms, use and misuse, of

“sister Churches”
…

1. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000630_chiese-sorelle_en.html

Here is part of the document you linked to:
" The expression has been used often by John Paul II in numerous addresses and documents; the principal ones, in chronological order, are the following.

In the Encyclical Slavorum Apostoli : «For us they [Cyril and Methodius] are the champions and also the patrons of the ecumenical endeavour of the sister Churches of East and West, for the rediscovery through prayer and dialogue of visible unity in perfect and total communion.»[4]

In a Letter from 1991 to the Bishops of Europe: «Hence, with these Churches [the Orthodox Churches] relations are to be fostered as between sister Churches, to use the expression of Pope Paul VI in his Brief to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras I.»[5]

In the Encyclical Ut unum sint, the theme is developed above all in number 56 which begins in this way: «Following the Second Vatican Council and in the light of earlier tradition, it has again become usual to refer to the particular or local Churches gathered around their Bishop as “sister Churches.” In addition, the lifting of the mutual excommunications, by eliminating a painful canonical and psychological obstacle, was a very significant step on the way toward full communion.» This section concludes by expressing the wish that the «traditional designation of “sister Churches” should ever accompany us along this path.» The topic is taken up again in number 60 of the Encyclical: «More recently, the joint international commission took a significant step forward with regard to the very sensitive question of the method to be followed in re-establishing full communion between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, an issue which has frequently embittered relations between Catholics and Orthodox. The commission has laid the doctrinal foundations for a positive solution to this problem on the basis of the doctrine of sister Churches.»[6]

The 2nd link clarified the 1st link in t use and misuse of “sister Churches” in people’s minds and ecumenical language. See HERE for the language used in clarification of the term sister Churches