L'autorité du saint-siège et l'Épiscopat
The Foundation of Unity
Christ established the primacy of Peter to serve as the foundation and cement of the Church's unity.
The Son of God, having willed that his Church be one and solidly built on unity, established and instituted the primacy of Saint Peter in order to maintain and cement that unity.✦ That is why we recognize this same primacy in the successors of the Prince of the Apostles, to whom, for that reason, is owed the submission and obedience that the holy councils and the holy Fathers have always taught to all the faithful.
The Heart of Concord
Beyond scholastic disputes, the faithful are called to recognize the divinely established head of the flock to preserve the concord of the brothers.
As for the matters everyone knows are disputed in the schools, though the ministers never stop bringing them up to make this power odious, there's no need to speak of them here, since they are not part of the Catholic faith. It's enough to recognize a head established by God to lead the whole flock in his ways—something those who love the concord of the brothers and the unity of the Church will always gladly do.
The Dual Pillars of Order
True unity is maintained by honoring both the episcopal government and the primacy of the See of Peter.
In fact, if the founders of your so-called Reformation had truly loved unity, they wouldn't have abolished episcopal government—which was established by Jesus Christ himself and has been in force since the time of the apostles—nor would they have despised the authority of the chair of Saint Peter, which has such a sure foundation in the Gospel and such a clear succession in tradition. Instead, they would have carefully preserved both the authority of the episcopate, which establishes unity in the local churches, and the primacy of the see of Saint Peter, which serves as the common center of all Catholic unity.1
Read the original Latin
Le Fils de Dieu ayant voulu que son Église fût une, et solidement bâtie sur l'unité, a établi et institué la primauté de saint Pierre, pour l'entretenir et la cimenter. C'est pourquoi nous reconnaissons cette même primauté dans les successeurs du Prince des apôtres; auxquels on doit, pour cette raison, la soumission et l'obéissance que les saints conciles et les saints Pères ont toujours enseignée à tous les fidèles.
Quant aux choses dont on sait qu'on dispute dans les écoles, quoique les ministres ne cessent de les alléguer pour rendre cette puissance odieuse, il n'est pas nécessaire d'en parler ici, puisqu'elles ne sont pas de la foi catholique. Il suffit de reconnaître un chef établi de Dieu, pour conduire tout le troupeau dans ses voies; ce que feront toujours volontiers ceux qui aiment la concorde des frères et l'unanimité ecclésiastique.
Et certes, si les auteurs de ta Réformation prétendue eussent aimé l'unité, ils n'auraient ni aboli le gouvernement épiscopal, qui est établi par Jésus-Christ même, et que Ton voit en vigueur dès le temps des apôtres, ni méprisé l'autorité de la chaire de saint Pierre, qui a un fondement si certain dans VÉvangile, et une suite si évidente dans la tradition: mais plutôt ils auraient conservé soigneusement, et l'autorité de Fépiscopat, qui établit l'unité dans les églises particulières, et la primauté du siège de saint Pierre, qui est le centre commun de toute l'unité catholique.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.16.18 — And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Notes
- 1 ↩Normalized OCR corruptions in the source payload: «Ton» → «l'on»; «VÉvangile» → «l'Évangile»; «Fépiscopat» → «l'épiscopat».
Exposition de la doctrine de l'Église catholique sur les matières de controverse companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit