- QUESTION : Among the 2. 4 billion Christians over 1.4 billion are Catholic. How is the organization and governance of this catholic community? Is it Democratic, Fascist, socialist, Theocratic or some other? – Hesed
- ANSWER: Dr. Jacob Parappally MSFS
The organization and governance of the Catholic Church are incomparable to any other social or political system. It is a unique institution; its structures, the sacramental nature of its offices and members, its leadership style, and its decision-making and decision-taking processes are distinct from any secular model. While the Church shares some characteristics with secular social organizations, it cannot be categorized as a democracy, fascism, socialism, or even a traditional theocracy.
Instead, the Church is a unique religious community featuring a hierarchical structure that—contrary to external appearances—functions through collegiality, subsidiarity, and synodality. Although sociologists often view it as a strictly top-down hierarchy, its internal logic is different. The members of the hierarchy are “servants of the People of God.” They are not secular rulers, but rather ministers following the example of Christ, who came “not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45)
- Church defies Secular Political Classification
No secular political label can be applied to the organization and governance of the Church. This is due to the peculiar nature of the Catholic Church, which has above 1.4 billion members. If one tries to classify the system and the structure of governance of this community, one would find that it does not fit into any classification. It is easier to explain the nature of its governance by describing what it is not rather than what it is. The Church is not democratic, though its supreme leader is elected by the majority of the Cardinals who have a right to vote. Except in the election of the Pope, in no other matters are democratic principles followed because the Church is not governed by majority consent. In democracy, the source of the power of a leader is the consent of the majority of people who elect him or her. When the stipulated period of the leader and the government is over, the leader has to step down from office and stand for election again. The people can vote for the leader or vote him/her out of office. Power is used to dominate and control people. Of course, such power is delegated to the leader by the people, hoping that the power would be used for their welfare. In the final analysis, it is a benevolent slavery. The Catholic Church is not governed by such a political system.
The governance of the Church is best understood not in political categories but in theological and ecclesiological terms. It is a spiritual communion structured hierarchically for the sake of service, unity, mission, and the proclamation of the Reign of God in the world.
In the Catholic Church, the leaders have no power to dominate and control but have authority to animate the community to fulfil its divine vocation to live and witness to the reign of God. The disciples of Jesus are warned not to imitate the way of governance followed by the secular world. “… Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28). The source of authority of those who hold offices of leadership in the Church is not derived from the will of the people who elect them, as in democratic systems, but from the authority given by Jesus to the apostles, who pass it on to their successors by the sacramental laying on of hands. They are not voted into ecclesiastical offices by the people of God. The dogmas and doctrines believed and taught by the Catholic Church are also not decided by the majority of the people of God. They are the articulation of the faith-experience of the apostolic community in the New Testament and are taught by the Magisterium.
The governance of the Church is also not fascist or socialist. A fascist way of governance is one which employs a centralized autocracy by a dictator who suppresses any opposition to his/her rule and uses state violence to enforce conformity. Through social and economic regimentation, it forces its people to believe that they are superior to all other nations and can use military power to attack and subdue others. The Catholic Church is transnational and truly universal or Catholic, having a central authority who does not force anyone to accept him as leader. It is a part of the faith of the members to accept the Pope as the leader and Vicar of Christ and obey his teaching and shepherding authority. A socialist system of governance demands state ownership of the means of production. This system also cannot be applied to the style of governance in the Church. With divinely ordained spiritual authority, the Church teaches about social responsibility in its social teachings. It advocates a “preferential option for the poor” and the marginalized and stands for the human rights of everyone, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of society. The social encyclicals of the Popes since the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII in 1891 condemned both unbridled capitalism and state socialism. The Church’s primary concern is the common good and the inalienable rights of every human being to live and unfold as a human being as God intended for humans and as revealed in the Scriptures.
- Is the Church Theocratic?
Usually, when people look for theocratic states in our times, they cite Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican City as examples. The Vatican City State, with an area of 121 acres and a population of about 882 in 2024, is the smallest sovereign state in the world. The Vatican City is considered an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchic state ruled by the Pope. The Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, heads this state but is elected by the Cardinals. A majority of the functionaries of this state belong to the clergy of the Catholic Church. However, the Vatican cannot be identified with the entire Catholic Church. Its 1.4 billion members are not citizens of the Vatican City State. The Pope, as the head of the Vatican City, holds no political power over all the members of the Catholic Church. Therefore, it is not correct to apply a political theocratic way of governance to the governance of the entire Catholic Church.
The global community of the Church is not governed like a civil state which adopts a democratic, fascist, socialist, or theocratic way of governance. The Church is governed by a spiritual hierarchical structure of governance. The hierarchy of the Church, with the Pope, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, is not a hierarchy of power as in a secular state. Ecclesiastical hierarchy is a hierarchy of self-emptying service. Those in the hierarchy are the servants or ministers of the People of God. The servant-leadership of Jesus, exemplified in the washing of the feet of the disciples, is given as a command by Jesus himself at the Last Supper to be followed in the style of governance in the Church. Of course, in the history of the Church, we find that there are many failures in following this command, and those in the offices of the hierarchy sometimes adopted the style of the leaders of secular states and harmed the mission of the Church in the world.
The Church is not democratic, though its supreme leader is elected by the majority of the Cardinals who have a right to vote. Except in the election of the Pope, in no other matters are democratic principles followed because the Church is not governed by majority consent.
If the secular way of governance cannot be applied to the governance in the Church, what form of governance is there in the Church? The Church is governed by the bishops, including the Pope, who is the Bishop of Rome, and who receive their mandate of apostolic succession by the sacramental laying on of hands by the legitimate ecclesiastical authority and the formula of prayer appropriate to the office.
The other two ordinations, namely, those of priests and deacons, are performed by the bishop. The ministries of the Pope, Cardinals, and Archbishops are only ecclesiastical offices. There is no consecration for such offices. The Pope and the bishops exercise their jurisdiction over matters of faith, morals, and the discipline of the Church governed by Canon Law. They have no civil authority over the members of the Church. Therefore, Catholics are not governed by a political version of theocracy.
- Church Governance: Paradigm-shift after Vatican II
From the 5th to the 20th century, the Church followed an Alexandrian model of the Divine Christ and a governance of the Church based on the Divine Christ. Each person in the hierarchy believed that he was representing the Divine Christ, who is transcendent, almighty, all-knowing, perfect, royal, majestic, solemn, and so on. So those who held offices in the Church also assumed a lifestyle accordingly: solemn, majestic, royal, all-knowing, etc. The structure of the Church according to this model was pyramidal. The Pope was on the top of this pyramid and the rest of the hierarchy occupied the different levels of this pyramid. Religious and the laity were at the bottom of this pyramid. In this structure, ecclesiastical authority was used to dominate and control. The response was blind obedience.
At Vatican II, there was a paradigm-shift or a change of model in the governance of the Church. It adopted the Antiochene model of the Human Christ and a governance based on this model. Certainly, one may not find any explicit statements in the documents of the Council about this paradigm-shift from Alexandrian to Antiochene. But the governance after Vatican II, based on the two organizational principles of subsidiarity and collegiality, reveals this paradigm-shift. Though the Pope is the supreme authority in the Church, he governs the Church on these principles of subsidiarity and collegiality. According to the principle of subsidiarity, matters that fall within the competence of a legitimate authority at any level of the hierarchy ought to be handled by that authority without any interference from elsewhere. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it as: “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good” (CCC 1883). Therefore, the Vatican does not manage the global Church at the lower levels. The entire world is divided into various dioceses with a bishop as its head. The bishop of a diocese is not a “branch manager” of the Church. He has the ordinary, immediate authority to govern the local Church. The Vatican intervenes only when there are issues concerning doctrine, morals, and discipline or when appeals are made to the Vatican to intervene.
In conclusion, the governance of the Catholic Church cannot be adequately explained through the categories of secular political systems such as democracy, fascism, socialism, or theocracy. Though certain external similarities may exist, the Church fundamentally differs from all political structures because its origin, authority, purpose, and mission are spiritual rather than political.
The hierarchical structure of the Church is rooted in apostolic succession and sacramental ministry, where leadership is understood as servant-leadership in imitation of Jesus Christ. The renewal brought about by Vatican II further emphasized collegiality, subsidiarity, participation, and synodality, thereby moving the Church away from overly centralized and authoritarian patterns of governance toward a more consultative and communitarian style. At the same time, the Church remains distinct from democracy because final responsibility for safeguarding faith, morals, and ecclesial unity rests with the Pope and the bishops in communion with him. Therefore, the governance of the Church is best understood not in political categories but in theological and ecclesiological terms. It is a spiritual communion structured hierarchically for the sake of service, unity, mission, and the proclamation of the Reign of God in the world.
