Pope Benedict on Pope St. Clement of Rome

In the recent months, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has been focusing his Wednesday Audiences on the apostles and early witnesses to the Christian faith. On March 7, 2007, his audience address focused on St. Clement of Rome, the third successor of Peter. Pope Benedict states that St. Clement's letter to the Corinthians was addressing a recent controversy regarding the role of priests in the community. He wrote:

"The clear distinction between the "laymen" and the hierarchy does not mean, in any way, a contraposition but only the organic connection of a body, of an organism with different functions. In fact, the Church is not a place for confusion and anarchy, where someone can do whatever he wants at any time; each one in this organism with an articulated structure practices his ministry according to the vocation received.
As pertains to the heads of the communities, Clement specifies clearly the doctrine of apostolic succession. The laws that regulate this derive from God himself in an ultimate analysis. The Father sent Jesus Christ, who in turn sent the apostles. These then sent out the first heads of the communities, and established that they would be followed by worthy men. Therefore, all proceeds in "an orderly way, according to the will of the word of God"
With these words, with these phrases, St. Clement underlines that the Church has a sacramental structure, not a political structure. God's actions that come to us in the liturgy precede our decisions and our ideas. The Church is above all a gift of God and not a creature of ours and therefore this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order but also the precedence of the gift of God that we all need. "

We can take at least a little comfort to know that the modern day struggles with those who think that the priesthood is outmoded due to the heightened awareness of the role of the laity is not so modern. Some men are ordained to the priesthood for the service of God and His Church. They are configured to Christ in such a way that they are in persona Christi capitis, and as such is 'ordered in his very being' to provide the sacraments. This not a slight to the laity - each and every human being has a vocation, and will be held responsible for putting that vocation to use in the Church.