Historical justifications attempted for lay interference in Episcopal appointment

Klieber: More say for local churches in bishop appointments

In his farewell lecture, Viennese church historian advises to "relieve non-local nuncios and to entrust the initial selection of candidates to locals again, as in the 1,700 years before" - Church history must "also take into account the 'lived', sometimes 'suffered' tradition"

Church history prevents "to freeze the present absolutely" and reminds of "unused possibilities" for example in the appointment of bishops. Church historian Rupert Klieber pointed this out on Tuesday in his farewell lecture at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna and asked a topical question in view of the foreseeable replacement of Vienna Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Francis in 2019 because he had reached the age limit of 75: "If in 1927 Salzburg was allowed to submit a list of episcopabili (people suitable for the office of bishop, note) for the pope, it was not possible to use this list. ) to present to the Pope, why not Vienna in 2023?"

Klieber divided his farewell lecture into two sections after being welcomed by Dean of Theology Andrea Lehner-Hartmann and in front of numerous academic companions: He first discussed bishop appointments for Austria before and after 1918 and posed the question of criteria for the best possible mode. And then he asked the fundamental question: What is church history for?

The former professor of church history, who has received several awards and is currently involved in the Austria-related evaluation of the Vatican archives of the eras of Pius XI and Pius XII, used numerous examples to explain which bishop "in the big old and small new Austria got into office and how", devoting himself to the quality of the selection procedures used. The fact that "a small church historian from beyond the mountains [...] dares to assess papal decisions" is not presumptuous, but is based on a good source situation after the archives have been opened. "Nor am I assessing the quality of those ordered, but of the ordering processes - as is well known, God can write straight even on crooked lines," Klieber added.

The researcher countered the common but "truncated" view that until 1918 the Emperor had appointed the bishops, then the Pope. Between 1913 and 1938 alone, six different procedures had been used, in which the Cathedral Chapter of Salzburg with its Electoral Privilege, the Nunciatures, the influential archbishops of Vienna and Vatican congregations under Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli - later Pope Pius XII - had also been important players.

"Loyalty to Rome" after the upheaval of 1918

Bishops appointed during the monarchy and previously selected by high officials were obliged to take an oath of loyalty to the emperor and were thus politically dependent, Klieber pointed out. "The advantages were the diligence and transparency of the search, which was conducted in writing and by argument" and usually brought learned, proven and moderate churchmen into responsibility. The upheaval of 1918 then "swept away ruling houses and church rights", the nuncio in Vienna was only responsible for six dioceses instead of 56 (Eisenstadt, Innsbruck and Feldkirch only became independent dioceses later, note).

In the sense of freedom of the Church, the "transfer of the processes from Austria's high bureaucracy to the Curia", legally secured by the new canon law of 1917, had come just in time, Klieber explained. Advantages had been "the purely ecclesiastical agenda" in times of anti-democratic state leadership and a supra-regional selection of candidates. The price for this was lack of transparency, according to the church historian: "Until 1918, the authorities had exchanged information; since then, news reached Rome almost exclusively through a one-way channel via the nuncio, which gave him an inappropriate dominance". The candidates were primarily expected to be "loyal to Rome and to the line".

That the "shoals of Vatican diplomacy" also determined the course after 1945 can be shown, according to Klieber, by "simple name-dropping": Under the same Pope John Paul II, Nuncio Mario Cagna appointed Bishops Egon Kapellari, Maximilian Aichern and Reinhold Stecher, but Nuncio Michele Cecchini appointed Hans Hermann Groer, Georg Eder and Kurt Krenn. "Leadership that divides instead of unites fails," Klieber remarked.

Cathcon:   Applies, of course, to Pope Francis, the Divider.

The "top" should not do what the "bottom" can do better.

As an ecclesiastical historian, he advises, after 100 years of mixed experience with bishop appointments, to put aside the shyness of clear procedural rules: "With the cathedral chapters, we have ecclesiastical senates in every diocese made up of deserving and knowledgeable churchmen. In consultation with the metropolitan or the president of the bishops' conference, they could draw up a list of, for example, seven candidates from which Rome would select a maximum of three from the diocese and two each from other dioceses or religious orders in order to avoid provincial narrowness," Klieber suggests. Rome could grant such a mode of its own free will and until revoked at any time. Klieber recalled the principle of subsidiarity of the Church's social doctrine and a principle of modern business management, according to which it should be avoided "that 'above' does what 'below' can do better". It is advisable "to relieve the burden on the non-local nuncios and to entrust the initial selection of candidates to locals again, as in the 1700 years before". Politicians should not be able to interfere through front or back doors.

In conclusion, Klieber posed the question: "What is church history for, if it masters its craft and wants to be more than the historical trappings of other subjects of theology or retelling of standard narratives?" His answer: relevant church history will continue to devote itself to the spirituality of saints, the theologies of scholars, the conduct of ministers as a normative tradition. "But it will also pay attention to the 'lived', sometimes 'suffered' tradition," Klieber emphasised. It was not only the recent "bursting boils of abuse", for example, that revealed a fatal blindness for victims of church guidelines and structures, which must be overcome.

In the case of the celibacy of clerics, too, the suffering of many women and children, which the celibacy obligation demands, must be seen in addition to the profitable freedom through this renunciation. Klieber: "Is it possible to tie down ideals legally, as only the Roman Church has been trying to do for exactly one thousand years?"

There were also many "best practice" cases

But church history could also come up with "best-practice cases": Klieber mentioned, among others, the pioneer hospital of the Knights of St. John in Jerusalem as a "collateral benefit of the Crusades", the Beghine quarters in the High Middle Ages, which offered women protection and education, and the tolerance model of Transylvania for four confessions that were fighting each other in the rest of Europe. "Unused opportunities" should be seized, Klieber advised, looking at the topic of women and the church: "If the Thuringian king's daughter Radegund could be ordained as a deaconess in the 6th century, why not the winegrower's daughter Andrea Lehner-Hartmann in the 21st?" Klieber's passionate appeal to his audience: "It is our damned duty as theologians at universities to spend all our brainpower to strengthen the positive potentials of religion, to elicit and banish negative ones."

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