The Papacy and the People of God

At the dawn of a new millennium, twelve of the world’s leading theologians and Vatican watchers ponder the future shape of the papacy. Pope John Paul II himself invited such reflections when, in his encyclical Ut unum sint, he said the church should search “for a manner of exercising the primacy that would be open to a new situation.” In this light contributors to this volume explore a range of issues including the history and theology of papal primacy, infallibility, the magisterium, papal elections, the relationship of the papacy to a thoroughly indigenous church, and the role of the papacy in an ecumenical church of the future.