UNITED STATES
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue
The centralized administration of the Roman Catholic Church is not a theological necessity. It may be the best way of administering the Church under current circumstances; or another way may be best.
The current situation is the result of the papacy’s attempts to preserve the unity of the church which was threatened by nationalist, Protestant, and later totalitarian movements. The French revolution swept away all the old feudal structures that had limited the centralization of administration in Rome, focusing more and more attention on the person of the pope.
But a church with over a billion members is too big to be administered in every detail from Rome; in fact much is left up to the bishops and local organizations.
Bishops failed in their handling of sexual abuse, and they suffered no consequences.
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