Primacy from below?

Abstract

Nowadays, papal primacy is often presented as follows. Popes realise that their office, meant to rally all Christians, actually is the stumbling-block to unity; this was so with Paul VI, and John Paul II even asked Christians to suggest how to create a modern papacy while respecting Christ’s will regarding Church leadership. Francis regrets that all too few concrete suggestions have come in. Turning the model upside down makes the pyramid stand on its head, becoming a funnel, we may say, and serving here as method by letting several strands of a forgotten theme converge. How should a flock meant to follow such an updated model look like? What degree of maturity can one realistically expect from the followers to be able to have a dynamic leader for a pope? [extract]