That was exactly my reaction at the news of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI four years ago, that Christ (and the resigning Pope) was thereby attesting through this heroic act of his priest that every priest, every believer, and, indeed every man, has a serious responsibility for the faith and for a testimony to the living God. In that sense, every man is pope, made capable to stand up for God! Not manipulated by the evil machinations and errors of men. "The Church" here may be taken in its broadest sense to mean all men, all are called by God to be his presence in the world. Cf. Benedict XVI: Last Testament, 182.
"...to perfect the saints for a work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain...to perfect manhood, to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ. And this he has done that we may be now no longer children, tossed to and from and carried about by every wind of doctrine devised in the wickedness of men, in craftiness, according to the wiles of error." Ephesians 4:12-14
That is the final cause of Christ's ordaining Church leaders, that all men might mature and become real men, promoters and defenders of the one true God, Christ.
"[Christ] himself gave some men as apostles, and some as prophets, others again as evangelists, and others as pastors and teachers, in order to perfect the saints..." Ephesians 4:11
The ministers of Christ are at the service of the full development of every man in Christ, that all may be mature, i.e. resistant to the threats to the truth of the faith.
A biologistic simile, reminiscent of O. Spengler's biologistic thesis on the life cycle of cultures coupled with Toynbee's solution: "Rather than a biologistic vision, [Toynbee] offers a voluntaristic one focused on the energy of creative minorities and exceptional individuals." Without Roots, 68.
...Saints!
P.S. Ephesians 4:11-16 is the second reading for the missa pro eligendo romano pontifice, cf. Benedict XVI: Last Testament, 182.
.jpeg)
_Painting_by_Philippe_-_(MeisterDrucke-1002935).jpg)
