Individual Protestant theologians such as Wolfhart Pannenberg
have seen the desirability of having a pope for all Christians.
The views of others can be found in the interesting volume of
essays, A Pope for All Christians? An Inquiry Into the Role of
Peter in the Modern Church, ed. Peter J. McCord (New York:
Paulist, 1976), with contributions by distinguished theologians
representing the Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Reformed,
Orthodox, Methodist and Anglican perspectives. A number of
Catholic theologians have taken the pope’s invitation as an
occasion for expressing their own views on how the papal office
might advantageously be restructured. Not surprisingly, the
proposals have come principally from authors who are
dissatisfied with current procedures. Essentially, their
complaint is that the papacy has become too active and powerful.
Before assessing the proposals, it will be helpful to reflect on
recent trends. Globalization of the Papacy During the past two
centuries the popes have become increasing