Abstract: This text is a lecture held in a public debate in Lugano, Switzerland in January 2006. The author presents the doctrinaire bases of the papal primacy. The article discusses the nature, the function and the authority of this kind of primacy, following the history trail of the primacy in the Catholic Church and the impediments risen by certain movements such as the Gallicanism. Updating the approach, the author emphasizes the statements regarding the papal primacy as in Vatican I and II, where the author identifies a true ecumenical potential. No matter what the solutions and the theological hypotheses would be, the author underlines the major importance of the synodal context where the primacy should be formulated.

Keywords: papal primacy, Gallicanism, conciliarism, Vatican I, Vatican II