Power and authority in the Church
Throughout history, there has been a broad, complex, and sometimes controversial reflection on the relationship between the power of orders, which is received with ordination and which enables one to administer certain sacraments — such as presiding over the Eucharist — and the power of governance, which gives authority over a part of the people of God, such as a diocese, a religious order, or even a parish.
Jan 17, 2025

By Andrea Gagliarducci
Throughout history, there has been a broad, complex, and sometimes controversial reflection on the relationship between the power of orders, which is received with ordination and which enables one to administer certain sacraments — such as presiding over the Eucharist — and the power of governance, which gives authority over a part of the people of God, such as a diocese, a religious order, or even a parish.
For a long time, it was believed that the two powers were distinct and that it was possible to exercise them separately — St Thomas Aquinas shared this position, too.
As regards the Roman Curia, it was believed that all those who carried out their service in it received their power directly from the pope, who conferred authority on them regardless of whether or not they were ordained. This also applied to cardinals, whose authority derived from papal creation — which is not a sacrament. The pope chooses the cardinals as collaborators and advisers of the pope in the government of the Church.
This approach has characterised the history of the Church for a long time, so much so that there have been cardinals who were not priests — for example, Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, Vatican secretary of state from 1848 to 1876, was ordained deacon but was not a priest. Further back in time, there were cardinals appointed at a young age who only received orders after a long time, and even popes who were only deacons at the time of their election to the papal throne.
In the past, some abbots had not even been ordained priests and governed an ecclesiastical district, or there were figures who seem strange to us but who responded to this logic, such as the so-called bishops-elect, who governed dioceses without receiving episcopal consecration but did so because of their election. Other examples include the so-called mitered abbesses, “women with the pastoral staff,” who exercised their authority over a territory and the faithful.
Vatican II’s impact on Church governance
Over time, however, another approach has emerged that goes back to the Church of the first millennium: The power of government is closely linked to the sacrament of holy orders, so it is not possible to exercise one without the other except within certain limits, which are rather narrow.
Hence, Pope John XXIII in 1962 decided that all cardinals should be ordained archbishops with the motu proprio Cum Gravissima.
This is the approach of the Second Vatican Council, which is found, for example, in Lumen Gentium, No. 21, in the Explanatory Note at No. 2, and in the two Codes of Canon Law, the Latin and the Eastern one.
Vatican II authoritatively reiterated that the episcopate is a sacrament and that by episcopal consecration, one becomes part of the College of Bishops, which, together with and under the authority of the pope, is the subject of supreme power over the entire Church.
This approach was followed in the two Curia reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council: Pope Paul VI’s constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae (1967) and Pope John Paul II’s Pastor Bonus (1988). John Paul II delineated the Curia into congregations and pontifical councils, which in lay terms might be defined as “ministries with portfolio” and “ministries without portfolio.”
The congregations had to be governed by cardinals because they participated in the decisions of the universal Church with the Pope and, therefore, their heads had to have the rank of first advisers to the pope. The pontifical councils, on the other hand, could also be led by archbishops, but in any case, by ordained ministers because they still had to be in collegiality with the bishop of Rome — that is, the pope.
Pope Francis’ Curia reform: breaking new ground
The apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, with which Pope Francis reformed the Curia in 2022, departed from this approach. There was no longer a distinction between congregations and pontifical councils, which were all defined as dicasteries. Therefore, there was no longer a difference in who could be the head of the dicastery, a position that could also go to a layperson.
However, when presenting the reform of the Curia on March 21, 2022, the then- Fr Gianfranco Ghirlanda — created cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of Aug 27, 2022 — explained that there were still some dicasteries in which it was appropriate for a cardinal to lead and noted that the “constitution does not abrogate the Code of Canon Law, which establishes that in matters that concern clerics, clerics are the ones to judge.”
In practice, the canonical mission was no longer given by order but by the pope’s decision. This is why a layman like Paolo Ruffini could be at the head of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication.
This is the heart of the debate: Are there offices that can be exercised only by papal appointment, or are there offices that, despite papal appointment, can be exercised only if one is ordained? -- CNA
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