ABSTRACT

In the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium concerning the relationship between the papacy and the episcopacy the Council itself does not make any exhaustive pronouncement in the sense indicated because it leaves specific questions open to further discussion among theologians. It lays down that in accordance with the defined doctrine of the First Vatican Council the pope possesses ‘plena et suprema potestas’ in the Church, and that he can exercise this plenary power even without any collegiate act in the true sense on the part of the united bishops. In this he is not bound by any juridical guidance which these bishops have to offer. It states further that the united episcopate as such, i.e. considered as a collegiate entity, is likewise the bearer of the same full and supreme power in the Church, though of course only to the extent that it is not simply the sum total of all the individual bishops, but a corpus, ordo, collegium that is constituted with and under the pope as its indispensable head and to the extent that it is only capable of a ‘collegiate act’ with the free agreement of the pope himself. This remains true even though in concrete fact and in the actual circumstances of history this may take place in very different ways.