Ratzinger Quote of the Day

Pastor Weedon, over on his blog, has a regular "Old Lutheran" and "Patristic" "Quote of the Day". I have been thinking about putting up a regular "Papa Benny" Quote of the Day. Here's today's (but I don't promise that this will be very regular). Re the "Pentarchy":

It is evident that the historical basis of this construction is very weak as far as Alexandria and Constantinople are concerned. What is important is that with this structure the East too maintained the idea of a Petrine foundation of unity and of the concreteness of the unity and universality of the Church in the succession of St Peter.

[Note that Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome are all Petrine Sees]

Unity does not result from some vague harmony of a polite conciliarism of different local Churches among themselves; unity has a name: Peter, and a See: Rome. Thus we celebrate Mass not only in union iwth the local bishop, but also 'una cum Papa nostro'.Theological Notes, 19

Quoted in Garuti, "Primacy of the Bishop of Rome", page 69-70.