Vatican backs role of hierarchy in the Church

THE universal Church is a communion born from the one Church established by Christ and united through faith, the
sacraments and the hierarchy,
according to a document released
by the Vatican this week.
The 19-page document, A Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion, was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the pontifical Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
It said that some theologians had given too much emphasis to the autonomy of local Churches in their investigations of the Church as a communion.
The introduction to the document said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wanted to "recall briefly and with clarity some of the fundamental elements that are to be considered already settled" in future scholarly debate on the Church.
Cardinal Ratzinger said some theologians saw the idea of hierarchy as autocratic and were in danger of "radically altering Catholic ecclesiology". The church was not a federation of local Churches, he said.