Canon 455.The Pope repeated the legislation of Canon 455 of the Code of Canon Law canon law, in the Roman Catholic Church, the body of law based on the legislation of the councils (both ecumenical and local) and the popes, as well as the bishops (for diocesan matters). that "the conference of bishops can issue general decrees only in those cases in which the common law prescribes it or a special mandate of the Apostolic See Apostolic See Noun the see of the pope, at Rome ... determines it .... The competence of individual diocesan bishops remains intact; and neither the conference nor its president may act in the name of all the bishops unless each and eery bishop has given his consent." The Pope says that, "if this unanimity UNANIMITY. The agreement of all the persons concerned in a thing in design and opinion. 2. Generally a simple majority (q.v.) of any number of persons is sufficient to do such acts as the whole number can do; for example, a majority of the legislature can pass is lacking, a majority alone of the bishops of a conference cannot issue a declaration as authentic teaching of the conference to which all the faithful of the territory would have to adhere, unless it obtains the approval (recognitio) of the Apostolic See .... The approval of the Holy See serves furthermore to guarantee that in dealing with new questions posed by the accelerated social and cultural changes characteristic of present times the doctrinal response will favour communion and not harm it." If a certain doctrinal resolution receives a two-thirds majority of votes but not all of them, it can "constitute authentic magisterium mag·is·te·ri·um n. Roman Catholic Church The authority to teach religious doctrine. [Latin, the office of a teacher or other person in authority, from magister, master; see and be published in the name of the conference itself," but only after the approval of the Apostolic See. Moreover, "no body of the episcopal conference In the Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Conference, Conference of Bishops, or National Conference of Bishops is an official assembly of all the bishops of a given territory. outside of the plenary assembly has the power to carry out acts of authentic magisterium. The episcopal conference cannot grant such power to its commissions or other bodies set up by it." The Pope added that, "in faithfully exercising their teaching office, the bishops serve the Word of God, to which their teaching is subject, they listen to it devoutly, guard it scrupulously scru·pu·lous adj. 1. Conscientious and exact; painstaking. See Synonyms at meticulous. 2. Having scruples; principled. , and explain it faithfully in such a way that the faithful receive it in the best manner possible." He also wrote that the work of an episcopal conference requires "that an excessively bureaucratic bu·reau·crat n. 1. An official of a bureaucracy. 2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure. bu development of offices and commissions be avoided. The essential fact must be kept in mind that the episcopal conferences with their commissions and offices exist to be of help to the bishops and not to substitute for them." (Text available on Vatican Website; printed in full in the BC Catholic, Aug. 24, 1998; and in Origins, July 1998.) |
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