Archbishop Coyne’s suggestion to move the papacy out of Rome was made “half in jest,” but it raises a good question: Why did God establish Roman primacy in the first place?

A U.S. archbishop caused a stir recently when he suggested that the Catholic Church should relocate its governance away from Rome in order to be more efficient.However partially tongue-in-cheek Hartford co-adjutor Archbishop Christopher Coyne’s proposal was, what would that look like in reality? Theologians who spoke with the Register said that, while technically possible, decamping from Rome would be a bad move for the papacy — pope out of Rome — for both practical and theological reasons.