April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
Gregory and John rate as top popes in history
A panel of scholars has ranked Gregory the Great and John XXIII as the two most outstanding popes in the first 2,000 years of the Church.
The Evangelist asked experts in Church history and scholars from other disciplines to answer this question: "What pope of the past two millennia made the greatest contribution to the Church?"
It is the second of 12 questions that the panel will answer during 1999 as part of The Evangelist's preparation for the coming third millennium. The panel is made up of scholars from Catholic colleges throughout the U.S.
Truly great
"In my judgment," said Rev. William McConville, professor of religious studies at Siena College in Loudonville, "the greatest pope was Gregory I (also known as the Great). He exemplified the essence of the Petrine ministry: 1) care for the people of Rome, 2) defense of the freedom of the Church, 3) evangelizing zeal, 4) a sense of his collegial relationship with his brother bishops, and 5) holiness of life."Gregory the Great, who reigned from 590-604, was also the choice of Joseph F. Kelly, professor of religious studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, who called him "the first pope to recognize that the Roman world had passed and the newly arrived barbarians represented the future of the Church. He kept up good relations with the Byzantine empire and less good relations with the Byzantine Church, but he really turned the papacy's eyes to the West."
In addition, he continued, Gregory "reformed the churches of Italy; worked with local reformers in Spain, France and Ireland; and sent a mission to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons. He was also the first monk to become a pope, and, as such, he encouraged Benedictine monasticism, which dominated the intellectual and spiritual life of the Church for the next six centuries. Much of what we consider ancient Christian (and even pagan) culture would not be here had not this remarkable pope put his energy and prestige behind monasticism. He was also a great spiritual writer, a considerate man, an active bishop -- and genuinely humble."
Intellectual
Seconding that view is Lawrence S. Cunningham from the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.Gregory "was the only pope to be named a Doctor of the Church," he noted. He was "a brilliant writer whose 'Moralia in Job' was highly influential and still read in the Liturgy of the Hours. He had a great sense of pastoral care (writing a book on the subject). He also was an aggressive missionary, sending missions to England.
"Gregory understood the pastoral role of the papacy. He coined the phrase 'servant of the servants of God' to describe the office of the papacy. That phrase still adorns the papal titles, even though the notion of the papacy as a servant of the Church, even in our day, is only imperfectly realized. The concept, however, may well be the starting point for any future ecumenical understanding of the papacy."
Talented man
Maureen A. Tilley, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio, labels Gregory the Great as "a man of many talents. A quintessential Roman of the early Church, he was a man of action and a man of prayer. When the Roman Empire was crumbling, he held the city of Rome together, managing both civil and ecclesiastical governments. He was the papal ambassador to the Byzantine court."He treated the poor with respect, distributing not only state funds but money of his own. He provided a model for other wealthy Romans. His life of prayer was nurtured in his years as a monk and abbot.
"As pope, he wrote 'The Dialogues,' stories about saints, and 'The Pastoral Rule,' a guidebook for bishops which is still used today for spiritual direction. His name is given to Gregorian chant, the most famous of the music styles used in Catholic hymns."
Votes for John
While those four scholars opted for Gregory, five selected a 20th-century pontiff as the pope who made the greatest contribution to the Church during its first 20 centuries: John XXIII, who reigned from 1958-63 and who summoned the Second Vatican Council."In his short pontificate," said Dr. John Dwyer, who teaches at St. Bernard's Institute in Albany, "John XXIII gave the modern world an entirely new definition of the word 'pope' -- a definition which was not authoritarian but pastoral.
"He emphasized that he himself was a bishop, and he did all that he could to associate his brother bishops with himself in the governance of the world-wide Church. He decentralized Church administration and insisted that bishops be treated as successors of the Apostles and not merely as local agents of the curial bureaucracy.
"He was a man of great trust in God, confident that, in an atmosphere of free and open discussion, God would move him and his brother bishops in the right direction."
Humility
Dr. William R. Barnett, associate professor of religious studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, said that "more than any other pope, John XXIII had the vision and courage to open the Roman Catholic Church to the modern world: in theology, in the governance of the Church, and in improved relations with other Christian and non-Christian religious groups."In addition, he possessed an obvious humility and pastoral quality that allowed his work for peace to gain a wide following. He led by example, not by authoritative pronouncements."
Council's impact
Dr. Doris Donnelly, professor of theology at John Carroll University in Cleveland, chose John XXIII for two reasons:* "The first has to do with his age. As a senior citizen, a man who was expected to be a transitional pope, John XXIII showed that age matters very little when one has energy of the Spirit of God propelling him. Convening the Second Vatican Council was perceived by many members of the Curia as an act of someone in his failing years and as something that would not matter very much. But history says otherwise.
* "The second reason I very much appreciate Pope John XXIII is his sense of humor, which buoyed him and those around him. My favorite story from his long repertoire of amusing anecdotes is one he told about three sure-fire ways to lose money -- gambling, carousing and farming. Regrettably, he says, his father chose the most boring of the three."
Event of century
Pope John XXIII's "convoking the Second Vatican Council is the religious event of the century," remarked Rev. Charles D. Skok, professor emeritus of religious studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. "The Council was the first time since the Apostles that all the bishops of the world could gather together to make it truly ecumenical. Attendance at previous Councils was spasmodic and limited."The effects of the Council, once the attempts to set back the Church to previous times have dissipated, will begin to take shape. The Church will enter an era rivalled only by the decision of the Council of Jerusalem to be inclusive of the Gentiles."
Openness and love
Rev. Robert Scully, SJ, assistant professor of history at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, described Pope John XXIII as "the man who was supposed to be a 'caretaker,' but ended up influencing modern Catholicism probably more than any other individual. As a truly open-minded and loving person, he gave both the papacy and the Church a new image and a new opening to the world."Through his pastoral and ecumenical work, he set the stage that was developed and extended via the Second Vatican Council. The Council helped the Church and the world to view each other in a new and much more positive light. It truly transformed Catholicism, and, for the most part, much for the better.
"While one cannot say for sure whether Pope John would have approved of all the major changes in the life and practice of Catholics, I think he would give his blessing to the spirit (as well as most of the specific changes) of the Council that in many ways bore his personal imprint."
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