The Roman primacy in the Church is "necessary", today as in the
past it is "at the service of truth and charity" and "serves
communion" in the one Church of Christ. Benedict XVI made the
remarks during the illustration of the figure of St Leo the
Great, to whom he dedicated today's address for the general
audience, to again assert the purpose of Petrine primacy and to
recall its existence since the time of the undivided
Church....As noted below, today is the 75th birthday of the
Vatican's chief ecumenist Cardinal Walter Kasper... whose recent
musings on authority and synodality could be compared and
contrasted with today's catechesis. [Leo's] pontificate began in
440, "undoubtedly one of the most important [pontificates] in
the history of the Church", in "very difficult" times. The
repeated assaults of the barbarian invasions, the weakening of
the authority of the empire, and a grave social crisis, in the
words of the pope, "had forced" the bishop of Rome to take on a
role in the civil sphere as well, which i