MOTU PROPRIO

23 July 1998 15:32

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23-Jul-98 — Vatican Information Service

MOTU PROPRIO PRESENTED AT PRESS CONFERENCE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 23, 1998 (VIS) – In his intervention during the presentation this morning of “Apostolos Suos,” Pope John Paul’s “Apostolic Letter Issued as Motu Proprio On the Theological and Juridical Nature of Episcopal Conferences,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger highlighted that this document pays special attention to the doctrinal authority of the conferences.

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explained that he would present the document’s contents, limiting himself to briefly developing its doctrinal guidelines.

He said that “the Code (of Canon Law, can. 753) sets forth the basic norms in this regard: ‘Although they do not enjoy infallible teaching authority, the bishops in communion with the head and members of the college, whether as individuals or gathered in conferences of bishops or in particular councils, are authentic teachers and instructors of the faith for the faithful entrusted to their care; the faithful must adhere to the authentic teaching of their own bishops with a sense of religious respect.”

“Episcopal conferences,” Cardinal Ratzinger emphasized, “do not constitute per se a doctrinal instance which is binding and superior to the authority of each bishop who comprises them.” He added that, “as a consequence of this, according to what the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio specifies – and under this profile the novelty and progress in the applicative development of this matter is noted – if doctrinal declarations emanating from a conference are approved unanimously by the bishops, they can be published in the name of the conference itself, and the faithful must adhere” to them. “If this unanimity is lacking, a qualified majority alone of the bishops of a conference cannot publish the eventual declaration as authentic magisterium of the same (body) … unless such a document approved by a qualified majority obtains the “recognitio” (revision) of the Holy See.”

Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of Prague, the Czech Republic, and president of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, recalled that in eastern-central Europe “in the time of communism, episcopal conferences did not exist in our countries, as desired by Vatican II. In reality there were either very few bishops, or none. … The diocese in which I was born was without a bishop for 36 years.”

He stressed that “the lack of (direct) contact with the Holy See … brought about the rise of the so-called ‘clandestine Church’, which developed its own structures. … Now we must heal the consequences of this lack of communion with the Holy Father and the universal Church.”

“The semi-clandestine, unofficial contacts and visits by various cardinals and bishops from outside our country,” Cardinal Vlk stated, “were a very important sign of collegiality. … The communists thus saw that collegiality and communion existed, notwithstanding their efforts to destroy them.”

He affirmed that, having lived “the pain of ‘non-unity’, of ‘non-communion’,” the bishops now realize more than ever the value of episcopal conferences in the furthering of communion and in “worthily fulfilling the duty, given us by the Lord, to announce the Gospel. … Communion among us makes the Gospel credible and visible.” And he pointed to the value of “continental bodies of cooperation among episcopal conferences” in this regard.

“This communion,” observed the archbishop of Prague, “has important concrete consequences. It allows us to confront together the challenges facing the Churches with the swift pace of history, technology and culture.”

Archbishop Julian Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, said that, with this Motu Proprio “none of the current juridical norms on episcopal conferences are repealed. On the contrary, these norms are confirmed, because they are harmoniously founded on principles which delimit the theological nature of episcopal conferences.”

Conferences, he said, “are not organizations of government centralization, but of proper understanding and pastoral cooperation among bishops.”

Archbishop Herranz stated that 108 episcopal conferences have been established, in addition to the 12 international assemblies of episcopal conferences.

The Code of Canon Law, he concluded, sets out the “necessary conditions so that episcopal conferences can promulgate general decrees of a binding nature. In fact, up until the present day, 108 current episcopal conferences have promulgated 2,331 general decrees in order to adapt 43 universal laws of the Church to the various local and cultural circumstances.”

For his part, Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, recalled that the first of the stable organizations for liaison among bishops of the same country was born in 1830 in Belgium. In 1889, the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars expressly named them “episcopal conferences.”

Then, referring to the steps taken up to the publication of this Apostolic Letter, he explained that in 1987, an interdicasterial study group prepared a document of an orientation character on the theological and juridical nature of episcopal conferences. A year later, the draft was sent to all bishops so that they could make comments and corrections. They in turn suggested that a completely new version be drawn up and this was used as a basis for the current document.

Archbishop Monterisi added that, following several annual meetings of a commission of bishops from several countries, the Pope in 1996 entrusted the work carried out up until that point to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for its definitive examination. For the juridical parts of the document, the aforementioned congregation was strengthened by collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. The conclusions from this last work were presented to the Holy Father, who on May 21 of this year issued the current Motu Proprio. OP/APOSTOLOS SUOS/RATZINGER:VLK VIS 980723 (920)