"Roma locuta, causa finita est!" ("Rome has spoken, the issue is over").
This phrase taken from Augustine (Sermo 131.10) has often been used to highlight the solidity of the Roman Catholic authority structure and the finality of its decision-making process. Well, forget it.
After the Note of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “Mater Populis Fidelis” (4 Nov), Rome has spoken (yes), but in doing so, is seemingly contradicting what was authoritatively said earlier, thus leaving the issue an open-ended one.
The Roman Catholic Church has its new Pope - the 267th according to its official list.
The number is less than obvious because it assumes that Peter was the first Pope (he was not) and that there were monarchical Popes thereafter (the practice became standard only at the end of the second century).
A leading evangelical in Rome, Leonardo De Chirico, offers his personal reflections on the direction of the Roman Catholic Church globally under Francis over the last 12 years.
Rome & Mary: Fresh clarity, or further confusion?
"Roma locuta, causa finita est!" ("Rome has spoken, the issue is over").
This phrase taken from Augustine (Sermo 131.10) has often been used to highlight the solidity of the Roman Catholic authority structure and the finality of its decision-making process. Well, forget it.
After the Note of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “Mater Populis Fidelis” (4 Nov), Rome has spoken (yes), but in doing so, is seemingly contradicting what was authoritatively said earlier, thus leaving the issue an open-ended one.