The Next Pope Should Be Catholic

[Valin]

First Things:

Timothy George

2/8/13

 

What does it mean for an Evangelical theologian to say that the next pope should be Catholic? Is this a joke? Actually, no.

 

As one involved in various church dialogues over the past thirty years, I have come to see the crucial role played by the Bishop of Rome in helping all Christians everywhere to work together for Christian unity. Far more than anything in the mainline Protestant world, the Second Vatican Council made possible the springtime of ecumenism among Christians today.

 

John Paul II invited Christians throughout the divided Church to advise him on how he could best carry out his office in faithfulness to Jesus’ prayer that his disciples “may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent me” (John 17:21). Benedict XVI deepened this emphasis. To be truly Catholic, the next pope must continue to build on the work of his two predecessors.

 

The key difference dividing Catholics from other Christians—Orthodox and Protestants alike—is authority in the Church. Catholics believe that the next pope will be the 265th successor to St. Peter as the unique Vicar of Christ on earth. Evangelicals stress the continuity of apostolic teaching and fidelity to the sacred Scriptures. This is an important but in some ways an intramural discussion. Against relativism and secularism, all committed believers in every Christian tradition share a common quest for truth based on divine revelation.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Translation: That which unites us is greater than that which divides us.