Modernist wants Synodality to sit on the Papal throne during Sede Vacante

A void in the Eucharistic Prayer – a symptom of insufficient Synodality?

Chur professor of dogmatics Eva-Maria Faber wonders why the reference to the Church in Rome is currently omitted from the Eucharistic Prayer, since the Holy See is vacant. Despite this, the local churches are still in communion with the Church of Rome and worldwide.

During the period of the See's vacancy, the Pope is omitted from the Eucharistic Prayer. While this seems obvious at first glance, it also raises questions. Isn't this void in the Eucharistic Prayer a symptom of a Church that is not yet truly synodal? How can it be that the ecclesial reality of the Church of Rome is omitted from the Eucharistic Prayer because its Bishopric is vacant?

Affirmation of Communion

The Second Eucharistic Prayer reveals that the mention of the Pope (as well as the bishops and other ministers) in the Eucharistic Prayer is not primarily an intercessory prayer, but rather an affirmation of comprehensive communion in the sacramental celebration: "united with our Pope N., our Bishop N., and all the bishops."

In other Eucharistic Prayers, these have become intercessions, but they should not make us forget the more original meaning of this part of the Eucharistic Prayer. Those praying place themselves in unity with the entire earthly (and, in this context, also the heavenly) Church. Of course, this does not mean communion only with the bishops mentioned, but with the churches they represent. If the See of the Bishop of Rome is vacant, communion (in prayer) with the Church of Rome is nevertheless not lost.

Local churches connected to the Church in Rome

In the early Church, it is not the Bishop of Rome in isolation, but the Church of Rome (including its bishop, led and represented by him) that has "primacy." It is the Church of Rome (through its episcopal representative) with which the other churches seek communion, in order to thereby be united among themselves. In this sense, the diocesan (Roman Catholic) local churches today are not thrown back on themselves simply because the Pope has died. They are still in communion with the Church of Rome and thus in communion with the universal Church.

Pope Francis expressed on the evening of his election that he would like to consider himself Bishop of Rome: "And now we begin this journey—bishop and people—the journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity toward all the Churches; a journey of fraternity, love, and mutual trust."

Reflecting on the "grounding" of the Papal office

The vacancy could also serve to reflect on this "grounding" of the papal office in the specific local Church of Rome. I leave it to liturgical scholarship to ask whether, in times of sede vacante the (Second) Eucharistic Prayer could not also be prayed "united with the Church of Rome."

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