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The Papacy. In 1967 Pope Paul VI got to the heart of the matter: "The Pope, as we all know, is undoubtedly the gravest obstacle in the path of ecumenism." There are millions of Protestants—and not just in Britain—who staunchly oppose the very concept of the papal office. Even tolerant non-Catholics could not accept the papacy as it now operates. But there may be some basis in history for compromise. Before the llth century split, the Orthodox granted Rome's traditional primacy of honor within the entire church and its authority in settling disputes on appeal. In return, Rome conceded that the Ecumenical Patriarchate had jurisdiction over the Eastern churches.
The First Vatican Council of 1869-70 may have set back by several centuries the chances of restoring unity under Rome by proclaiming the Pope's personal infallibility—when he declares ex cathedra (from the throne) on a matter of faith and morals. It also insisted on the Pope's direct jurisdiction over each and every believer on earth. This was, perhaps, an improvement on the papal bull of 1302 that declared, "It is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." The 1870 decree caused dissension even within the ranks of Catholic bishops, some of whom pointedly returned to their sees in the U.S. and Northern Europe before the council had concluded its business. These dogmas, admits a liberal in John Paul's Vatican, "have made our job immensely more difficult than it should have been." The power of speaking infallibly has made even the Popes wary, and it has been used explicitly only once since Vatican I, when Pius XII decreed in 1950 that the Virgin Mary, when she had finished her life on earth, was transported bodily into heaven. This proclamation created yet another difficulty for non-Catholic Christians. Despite the Second Vatican Council's emphasis on the "collegiality" of bishops in sharing authority with the Pope, it left papal powers substantially intact.
This spring's accord by Anglican and Catholic negotiators seeks to overcome these longstanding difficulties by the positive approach of examining how the single leader of a future reunited church might function. The Anglicans agreed that the Bishop of Rome could have jurisdiction to intervene in any part of the church under certain circumstances, and could issue infallible teachings on his own, with the proviso that they would later need to be received and recognized by the church. If anything, this accord was more unsettling for Anglicans than for the Vatican.