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	What Should Pope Benedict XVI Do? By Kevin Flynn The Ottawa Citizen April 3, 2010 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/What+should+Pope+Benedict/2760031/story.html Do you mean "what should Pope Benedict XVI do in regard to the sexual-abuse cases rocking the Roman Catholic Church these days?" The Pope is getting plenty of advice about that from all sides, so I hesitate to add still more. Instead, I would urge him to take a broader, deeper look into the role of the Pope in the Catholic Church. This is an inquiry to which John Paul II invited all "church leaders and their theologians," a "patient and fraternal dialogue" among the churches about the role of the Bishop of Rome and the question of his universal primacy. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) has been an important way for Anglican and Catholic theologians to address issues that have historically divided the churches. Since its establishment by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1968, the dialogue has pointed to enormous areas of common belief and fresh ways of understanding past disputes so that they need no longer divide. In the document The Gift of Authority (2004), ARCIC invited both Anglicans and Catholics to rethink the role of the Pope. I would encourage the Pope to ponder seriously some of the questions addressed to Catholics in particular. Here are some of the most pertinent questions. "Is there at all levels effective participation of clergy as well as lay people in emerging synodal bodies? Has the teaching of the Second Vatican Council regarding the collegiality of bishops been implemented sufficiently? Do the actions of bishops reflect sufficient awareness of the extent of the authority they receive through ordination for governing the local church? Has enough provision been made to ensure consultation between the Bishop of Rome and the local churches prior to the making of important decisions affecting either a local church or the whole Church?" Rev. Kevin Flynn is an Anglican priest and director of the Anglican Studies Program at Saint Paul University.
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