College of Bishops
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The term College of Bishops is used in Catholic theology to define the bishops, as successors of the apostles, in communion with the Holy See, that is, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, as a body, sharing the pastoral care of the (Roman Catholic) Church with the Pope. According to canon 336 of the Code of Canon Law, 1983( Vatican-approved English translation):
| The college of bishops, whose head is the Supreme Pontiff [the Bishop of Rome] and whose members are bishops by virtue of sacramental consecration and hierarchical communion with the head and never without this head, is [also] the subject of supreme and full power over the universal church. |
Canon 338 goes on to explain that it is for a Pope to determine how the College of Bishops exercises that power. Normally it would be through an ecumenical council.
The doctrine is not understood to mean that a council is superior to a pope. And in the opposite direction, a pope has traditionally been understood to possess the sole right of calling, dismissing, or proroguing a council and of approving its decisions.
There was little explicit teaching on the subject before the Second Vatican Council. Indeed, throughout the nineteenth century and to the mid - twentieth century the ultramontanist position was generally held; that is, that the Pope was an absolute monarch who was guided by the Holy Spirit. See Papal Infallibility. The idea was explicitly taught by the Second Vatican Council, in the decree Lumen Gentium.
Within the Catholic Church, the idea of the College of Bishops has caused some controversy. Indeed, Pope Paul VI, who approved Lumen Gentium, felt obliged to authorise the adding of a Nota Praevia or explanatory comment, to the Council documents (not to the text of Lumen Gentium itself). Part of the note reads
| As Supreme Pastor of the Church, the Supreme Pontiff can always exercise his power at will, as his very office demands. Though it is always in existence, the College is not as a result permanently engaged in strictly collegial activity; the Church's Tradition makes this clear. In other words, the College is not always "fully active [in actu pleno]"; rather, it acts as a college in the strict sense only from time to time and only with the consent of its head. The phrase "with the consent of its head" is used to avoid the idea of dependence on some kind of outsider; the term "consent" suggests rather communion between the head and the members, and implies the need for an act which belongs properly to the competence of the head. This is explicitly affirmed in n. 22, 12 [referring to the text of Lumen Gentium], and is explained at the end of that section. The word "only" takes in all cases. It is evident from this that the norms approved by the supreme authority must always be observed.
It is clear throughout that it is a question of the bishops acting in conjunction with their head, never of the bishops acting independently of the Pope. In the latter instance, without the action of the head, the bishops are not able to act as a College: this is clear from the concept of "College." This hierarchical communion of all the bishops with the Supreme Pontiff is certainly firmly established in Tradition. |
The Nota is as an attempt to preclude misunderstanding in the Council text. However, it is not often read as it is an appendix to the text. Conservative bishops in the Council were fearful that the idea of the College of Bishops would be interpreted as a new conciliarism. Conciliarism was a fifteenth century idea that an ecumenical council was the supreme authority under Christ in the Catholic Church. That fear is shared amongst traditionalist Catholics. Ironically, theologians and bishops have criticised the Vatican for not co-operating more fully with the bishops in the spirit of collegiality.
