NUNTIATORIA

Pope Leo XIV and the Undoing of Papal Primacy

Traditional Catholics warn of doctrinal rupture as pope relativises the See of Peter in new ecumenical address…

Pope Leo XIV has reignited controversy over Catholic ecclesiology by suggesting that no episcopal see—including Rome—should claim primacy over others, in a prepared address to Orthodox and Catholic pilgrims delivered at Castel Gandolfo on July 17. The pope’s remarks, part of an ecumenical celebration aimed at fostering unity between East and West, have been hailed by progressives and non-Catholic observers as a watershed moment. But traditional Catholics are denouncing the speech as a direct contradiction of Vatican I and a capitulation to Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology.

“Rome, Constantinople, and all the other Sees are not called to vie for primacy,” the pope stated, invoking Mark 9:33–37 and comparing episcopal claims to primacy with the apostles’ dispute over who among them was greatest. “Unity among those who believe in Christ is one of the signs of God’s gift of consolation,” he continued, citing Isaiah 66:13. He described the gathering as “one of the abundant fruits of the ecumenical movement aimed at restoring full unity among all Christ’s disciples.”

The speech, delivered in English—Leo’s native tongue—was not impromptu but a carefully prepared address circulated by the Holy See Press Office. This removes any ambiguity regarding translation or off-the-cuff pastoral improvisation. The language chosen was precise, and the intention unmistakable.

Traditional Catholic commentators reacted swiftly. Many interpreted the pope’s words not as a fraternal call to unity, but as a theological flattening of divinely instituted hierarchy. Chris Jackson, writing on Substack, observed: “The First Vatican Council defined that the Roman Pontiff possesses not merely a primacy of honour, but of jurisdiction over the entire Church, and that this primacy was given to Peter alone and passed to his successors in Rome. That’s de fide. It’s not optional.”¹

Jackson denounced the address as a preference for “diplomacy over doctrine,” lamenting that rather than reaffirming Rome’s divinely instituted primacy, the pope was “relativizing it” and transforming the Petrine office into “a kind of apostolic roundtable.” The sedevacantist platform Novus Ordo Watch likewise castigated the pontiff for what it termed “a bombshell,” noting that Leo’s language mirrored the rhetoric of sixteenth-century Protestant polemicists who denied Roman primacy on historical grounds.²

At the heart of the controversy is not merely tone or posture, but doctrine. The dogmatic constitution Pastor Aeternus of the First Vatican Council affirms that the Pope possesses “a primacy of ordinary power over all other Churches,” and that this is “a doctrine of divine revelation,” to be held by all the faithful.³ The council further declares that this primacy pertains to “the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church.”

Some defenders of the pope’s phrasing have sought to analogise the pontiff’s authority to that of a constitutional monarch, governing through ministers but not intervening directly in every affair. Yet this model—though pedagogically appealing—requires precision.

It is true that bishops are not vicars of the pope but of Christ. As Pope Pius XII affirms in Mystici Corporis Christi, they possess their ordinary power “by divine institution,” not papal delegation.⁴ However, this episcopal authority is given within the visible, hierarchical communion of the Church, and it remains subordinate to the supreme jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, who governs the entire Church as Vicar of Christ. Vatican I teaches that the pope has “immediate” jurisdiction in every diocese—not by convenience or delegation, but by divine right.⁵

Thus, while bishops are true shepherds of their particular churches, they must remain in communion with Peter to exercise their office validly and licitly. Their authority is not autonomous, but part of the divinely instituted structure in which the successor of Peter is the principle of unity. St Thomas Aquinas states plainly: “The power of the pope, who is the vicar of Christ, extends to the whole Church; whereas other pastors have power only over their own flocks.”⁶

Yet this supremacy of the pope is not autocracy. Catholic doctrine equally affirms that the Roman Pontiff must exercise his authority in a manner consonant with the charity, humility, and pastoral solicitude of Christ Himself. Though his jurisdiction is universal and supreme, it is always to be directed toward preserving communion, promoting truth, and ensuring the salvation of souls. He is not a despot over the bishops but a father among brothers—bound by divine law to govern in truth and love. Pope Leo XIII wrote:

“The supreme ruler of the Church cannot govern as he pleases, but is bound to govern according to the laws and doctrines of the Church. The purpose of his office is to preserve the deposit of faith and the unity of the Church, not to replace or reconfigure it.”⁷

This principle is echoed in Lumen Gentium, which affirms that bishops “are not to be regarded as vicars of the Roman Pontiff” but “exercise their authority in communion with him, for the building up of the Body of Christ.”⁸ In short, universal jurisdiction is not a license for absolutism, but a sacred charge to preserve the unity of the Church in the bond of charity.

Observers sympathetic to ecumenical goals, however, welcomed the speech. Fr Lorenzo Murrone, a Lutheran pastor and classical scholar based in Rome, commended the pope’s recognition of “the apostolic structures of the early Church.” He remarked that “the ancient Church was not gathered under one head but divided into individual dioceses,” and that “as long as the old conciliar definitions remain operative in Catholic dogma, the division will persist.”

While Murrone praised Leo’s tone, he confessed confusion over the implications. “How far is Leo willing—or able—to go?” he asked. “Papal infallibility and supremacy are as indispensable to Roman Catholicism as repugnant to both Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism.”

Indeed, the Vatican has been laying groundwork for such gestures. In June 2024, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity issued a 151-page document titled The Bishop of Rome: Primacy and Synodality in Ecumenical Dialogues and Responses to the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint.⁹ The text cautions against “anachronistic projection” of later papal doctrines onto the early Church and acknowledges that the dogmatic definitions of the papacy “have proved to be a significant obstacle for other Christians.”

The document cites with approval a 2006 address by Pope Benedict XVI, who declared: “As far as the doctrine of the primacy is concerned, Rome must not require more of the East than was formulated and lived during the first millennium.”¹⁰ It even quotes the Lutheran Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, in which Melanchthon concedes that a primacy of jurisdiction iure humano (by human law) might be acceptable “if the pope would allow the Gospel.”¹¹

Leo’s address also follows on from his inaugural homily, where he notably pointed to Christ—not Peter—as the rock of the Church, and referred to non-Catholic communions as “sister Christian churches”—a designation previously criticised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as theologically imprecise.¹²

Taken together, these developments point to more than ecumenical diplomacy. They suggest a redefinition of papal identity, stripped of juridical supremacy and reimagined as a moral symbol or coordinating presence among equal patriarchates. But such a vision is difficult to reconcile with the unambiguous definitions of the First Vatican Council or the universal magisterium. Traditionalists argue that it not only undermines Rome’s claim to authority but reopens the door to ecclesial relativism and doctrinal confusion.

What remains unclear is whether Leo XIV intends to press further—seeking structural changes to the papacy—or whether his speech was a symbolic gesture, intended to warm relations without formally altering doctrine. Either way, the result is the same: a papacy increasingly perceived not as the visible source of unity, but as one voice among many.

As the pontificate of Leo XIV continues, Catholics are left to ask whether this pope is a steward of the Petrine office—or its quiet dismantler. 🔝

¹ Pastor Aeternus, First Vatican Council, 1870, Ch. III.
² Novus Ordo Watch, “Leo XIV Drops Bombshell on Papal Primacy,” July 18, 2025.
³ Pastor Aeternus, ibid.
⁴ Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (1943), §38.
⁵ Pastor Aeternus, ibid.
⁶ St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Suppl. Q.8, a.6.
⁷ Leo XIII, Epistola Tua, 1885.
⁸ Lumen Gentium, §27.
⁹ Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, The Bishop of Rome: Primacy and Synodality, June 2024.
¹⁰ Benedict XVI, Address to Patriarch Bartholomew, Nov. 30, 2006.
¹¹ Philip Melanchthon, Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, 1537.
¹² Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dominus Iesus (2000), §17.