_The Church, the Pope. Unity, plurality._--Considering the Church as a unity, the Pope, who is its head, is as the whole. Considering it as a plurality, the Pope is only a part of it. The Fathers have considered the Church now in the one way, now in the other. And thus they have spoken differently of the Pope. (Saint Cyprian: _Sacerdos Dei._) But in establishing one of these truths, they have not excluded the other. Plurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion; unity which does not depend on plurality is tyranny. There is scarcely any other country than France in which it is permissible to say that the Council is above the Pope.

Место: SECTION XIV · ¶2851
Лицензия: Public domain · Источник
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Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (WLC), CC BY 4.0

_The Church, the Pope. Unity, plurality._--Considering the Church as a… — Pensées