CAN WE CORRECT OUR SUPERIORS WHEN IN ERROR?

QUESTION?

St Catherine of Sienna admonished the Pope and encourage him to return the Papacy to Rome from Avignon, France, where the popes had lived since 1309. The popes had lived in France for 67 years, all of Catherine of Siena’s life and then some, when she decided to visit Pope Gregory XI (r. 1370–1378) in the summer of 1376. Catherine spent three months in Avignon tirelessly working to realize her dream of the pope's returning to Rome. Pop Gregory resisted but St Catherines firm humble persistence won him over and he returned the papal residence to Rome. Can you point to a passage in Scripture, a Doctor or Father of the Church that justifies St Catherines actions where the lesser criticizes the superior?

ANSWER!

Both Testaments of Scripture are replete with examples of subordinates criticising superiors in public. The criticism of the leaders of Israel by prophets and priests, from the public humiliation of King Saul by Samuel, the denunciation of King Ahab by Elijah, and the attack on Herod the Tetrarch by St John the Baptist, are in general the criticism of official, and usually divinely sanctioned, authority, by persons who may have been inspired by God, but who lacked institutional standing. This pattern is taken to its logical extreme by the condemnation of the Elders by the prophet Daniel when only a child (Dan 13:45ff). Our Lord made the situation clear when, while eviscerating the Chief Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, he acknowledged nonetheless that they held ‘the seat of Moses’, a position which meant that people should listen to them as speaking with authority, despite all their shortcomings (Matthew 23:2-3).  

Private remonstrations also take place, a notable example being the prophet Nathan’s criticism of King David, but even this was not intended as a way to hush things up. Nathan speaks of God’s coming punishment of David: ‘For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun.’ (2 Sam 12:12). In the other cases, it is fair to assume that the prophets realised that the time for private discussion had passed (Matthew 18:15-17). We may take it that this was also so in the famous confrontation of St Peter by St Paul (Gal 2:11).

Commenting on that last passage, St Thomas Aquinas wrote: ‘Where there is a proximate danger to the faith, prelates must be rebuked, even publicly, by subjects. Thus, St. Paul, who was subject to St. Peter, rebuked him publicly.’ (Commentary on the Epistle to the Galations 2:14) https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/filial-correction-an-act-of-loyalty-to...