If anything smells like "sola scriptura," it's your convenient interpretation of John 17. If you were truly interested in getting to the heart of that chapter, you'd understand that Jesus established the Petrine office to ensure the very unity of which he spoke.

There's no point in over-complicating this matter. This was simply a case of an employee doing an end run around his boss and getting his hand slapped. It happens all the time in the business world. The only difference is that these guys wear cassocks and zucchettos instead of suits and ties.