Bishops' conferences.

Vatican City--National bishops' conferences must amend their rules to acknowledge the fact that they can publish statements on doctrinal and moral issues only if these pass with a unanimous vote or are approved by the Vatican. The Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, in a mid-May letter to bishops' conferences, also noted that the conferences should deal with moral or doctrinal questions only to help the faithful resolve "new problems arising from changes in society."

Signed by Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, the letter was published in the Vatican newspaper in late June. "The bishops should be aware that the doctrine of the Church forms part of the patrimony of the entire People of God and is the bond of its communion," the Cardinal said. Therefore, he added, they must take special care to follow the teaching of the Church and to communicate it to their people (CNS, June 30, 1999).

This letter is a follow-up to Pope John Paul's "motu proprio" (letter written "on his own authority") of May 1998, entitled Suos apostolos, on the theological and juridical nature of episcopal conferences. After 35 years of post-Vatican II developments, Suos apostolos is the first authoritative document which reflects on the use and authority of these bishops' conferences in a systematic way.