The primacy of the Bishop of Rome is the term for the highest office in the Church. It consists in carrying out a mission appointed to St. Peter and his successors by Christ. The truth about the primacy is a theoretical plane, dogmatically defined at the I Vatican Council in 1870. It also has a practical dimension, which depends on the individual popes and the particular historical context. A characteristic feature of the pontificate of John Paul II was the implementation of the reforms of the II Vatican Council and the Church’s preparation for the Great Jubilee of the third millennium. John Paul II realized the primacy function in accordance with the tradition of the Church, on the grounds of the biblical image of Peter the Apostle, and continuing the line of his predecessors – John XXIII and Paul VI. The leading element of his pontificate was the openness to the world, to man and his dignity, or sensitivity to the signs of the times. The priority at the level of ecclesial unity was a concern for the community at all levels, including the ecumenical field. John Paul II realized the primacy ministry as Servus servorum Dei, in the ancient formula – priority in love .

As we know the idea of papacy defined during the First Vatican Council is one of the biggest problems for the unity of Christian Churches. The author of this article attempts to re-interpret the statements of the Council relating to this matter. It will be done against the background of the theology of faith that definitely relates the content of faith (fides quae) to the fides qua. In this way, certain statements regarding faith, also referring to the pope, are relativized, but not in the sense of elimination, but in the sense of their intense reference to the center of biblical faith. We have also the possibility to give every time a new shape of papacy, understood as a “ministry of unity”.