Summa de Ecclesia

The adversaries, not permitting the dignity of the name "spouse" to be attributed to the Roman pontiff as spouse of the universal Church, argue in many ways. First, against what was said in the preceding ch.: Christ alone seems to be the only spouse of the Church, according to that of John 3: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom"; the Church is joined to him through faith, according to that of Hosea 2: "I will betroth you to me in faith." Therefore it follows that the pope is not to be called spouse of the Church. ¹

Secondly, thus: St Bernard, writing to Eugenius in his book On Consideration, calls the pope the paranymph and friend of the bridegroom, not the bridegroom; therefore, etc. ²

Thirdly, thus: the spouse is one who begets sons for his own name from his spouse; but the pope does not beget sons for his own name from the Church, whence they are not called Petrines from Peter but Christians from Christ; therefore the pope cannot be called spouse of the Church. ³

Fourthly, thus: of one spouse there ought to be one husband, Gen. 2: "They shall be two in one flesh"; therefore with respect to the holy Church of God one spouse ought to be given, not two. For, as St Callixtus says, and it is found in ch. Sicut in unaquaque ecclesia, 21 q. 2: "The Church of Christ ought to be the wife and bride of no saints"; therefore, etc. Nor, says the adversary, does it avail to say that the pope is a ministerial spouse, because although by the power entrusted to him someone is the supreme vicar or minister of some king, nevertheless he does not dare to usurp in any way the royal name, nor to call himself spouse of his lord's wife. ⁴

Fifthly, it is argued thus: the bride or wife is subject to the bridegroom or husband, as is had in Eph. 5, where the Apostle says: "As the Church is subject to Christ, so also wives to their husbands in all things." But the universal Church is not subject to the pope, since he is its minister; therefore, etc. In answering these, in order to understand what has been said, that the pope is the bridegroom of the universal Church, we shall first bring forward what St Thomas says in his treatise against those who attack the religious life in this matter. For he speaks thus: "Properly speaking, the bridegroom of the Church is Christ, of whom it is said, John 3: 'He who has the bride is the bridegroom'; for he himself begets sons for his own name from the Church. Others, however, are called bridegrooms as ministers of the bridegroom, cooperating outwardly in the generation of spiritual sons, whom indeed they do not beget for themselves but for Christ; which ministers are called bridegrooms insofar as they hold the place of the true bridegroom. And therefore the pope, who holds the place of the true bridegroom in the whole universal Church, is called the bridegroom of the universal Church." Thus St Thomas. Having this, we must now reply to the arguments of the adversaries.

⁵

To the first, where it says that Christ alone, etc., it is answered that it is true that Christ alone, properly speaking, is the bridegroom of the Church, as he by whom the bride is made fruitful and in whose name the Church begets sons; nevertheless prelates, insofar as they are ministers who cooperate outwardly with Christ, through the dispensing of the sacraments or of the divine word, for the generation of the spiritual sons of God, can be called bridegrooms, as we said a little before in ch. 23, speaking of the head. As to the inward influx of grace, the notion of head was to be attributed to Christ alone; but as to the outward influx, namely by the mode of dispensing the sacraments or of directing in acts, the notion of head could also belong to others, namely to the prelates of the Church.

⁶

To the second argument, it is answered in one way by denying the consequence: "Bernard does not name him bridegroom, therefore he is in no way bridegroom," because a consequence from negative authority is not valid. Second, it is answered that, granting that blessed Bernard said he is not bridegroom, what he would say would be true, namely that the pope is not properly, as has been said, the bridegroom of the Church: that is, the one by whose power the Church is made fruitful, or the sacraments of the Church for the generation of spiritual sons, and in whose name the Church begets sons. Yet he may well be called paranymph, and guardian of the Church, and friend of the bridegroom, as John the Baptist is called in John 3. For a paranymph is so called from para, which means beside, and nympha, which means bride, as one who joins or betroths the bride to the husband. And in this way St Thomas says in the Fourth Book, dist. 38, that a bishop, to whom the care of a church is committed, betroths virgins, not to himself but to Christ, as paranymph and friend of the bridegroom; nevertheless, by reason of that ministry, they can in some way be called bridegrooms of the Church, as has been said.

⁷

To the third, where it is said "he is bridegroom," etc., the answer is plain from what has been said: for no one is such except Christ; nevertheless, by the ministry of cooperation, the prelate can well be called bridegroom in some way, even one who begets. Hence Paul says, 1 Cor. 4: "For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."

⁸

To the fourth, it is answered that, as St Thomas says above, if the bishop of his diocese is bridegroom and the priest of his church, then hence also the pope is bridegroom of the diocese and the bishop of the parish. Yet it does not follow on account of this that there are several bridegrooms of one church, because the priest cooperates in his ministry with the bishop as with the principal, and likewise the bishops with the pope, and the pope with Christ himself. Hence Christ, the pope, the bishop and the priest are reckoned only as one bridegroom of the Church; thus St Thomas.

⁹

As to what the adversary says, that the pope too could not be called ministerial bridegroom by the likeness of carnal spouses, it is worth nothing, since it is not similar. Hence that adversary is much deceived in this, and in many places, since from the likeness of carnal things he judges spiritual things unsoundly. But it is not similar: of a minister of some king with respect to the wife, and of a minister of Christ with respect to his bride the Church. For a minister with respect to the sons whom the king has by his wife does not really cooperate in the generation of those sons, and therefore in no way, not even ministerially, can he have the name of spouse; but since the ministers of the Church cooperate ministerially with Christ in the generation of the spiritual sons who are begotten of the Church, the bride, therefore in some way they can also be called bridegrooms of the Church, the bride of Christ. Yet it is true, as has been said, that one bridegroom is counted with him.

¹⁰

To the fifth argument, the minor is denied: for since the supreme pontiff is pastor, ruler and head of the universal Church, in the way in which sheep are subject to the shepherd, and subjects to the ruler, and the body to the head, the Church is subject to the supreme pontiff. And when it is argued that the pope is minister of the Church, it must be said for now that a man is called minister of another in two ways. In one way, one who gives another aid, help or saving succour; and in this way the pope is minister of the Church, and prelates are ministers of their churches, in the way in which angels also are called ministers of men. Hence the Apostle says to the Hebrews, 1: "sent into ministry for those who receive the inheritance of salvation." Christ too is called minister in this way: hence he himself says, Matt. 22: "I came not to be ministered unto but to minister." And taking the name minister in this way, the consequence does not hold: "This man is the minister of that one; therefore he is subject to him." Rather he may be superior and lord, as is plain in the examples brought in. In another way someone is called minister of another as one by whose power he works, and whose place he holds as principal; and of such a minister it is well true that he is subject to him whose minister he is. But in this way the pope is not minister of the Church, but of Christ, by whose authority and in whose place he rules and governs the universal Church itself. Hence the Apostle says in 1 Cor. 4: "Let a man so regard us as ministers of Christ, etc."; likewise: "For Christ we are ambassadors," 2 Cor. 6.