Contenuti per la categoria: Catholic church

Financing of the Holy See, transparency of destination and patrimonial administration

ABSTRACT: The essay analyzes the topic of the economic and financial management of the Holy See’s patrimony and in particular the reforms implemented during the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis which ensure greater transparency of financial operations. In carrying out its universal mission, the Church relies on transparent and efficient asset management. All those who manage the Church’s patrimony must administer it wisely, avoiding the performance of speculative operations in order to preserve the economic value of the assets, which are instrumental to all Church activities. Because of this, the Vatican judicial system has also been strengthened to prevent and eventually repress abuses in the management of ecclesiastical patrimony. It must be stressed, however, that, excessive garantism in the management of Vatican finances could risk hindering the Holy See’s activities. In this sense, the essay also reflects on the advisability of bypassing the ordinary system of financial transparency in peculiar circumstances in order to guarantee the Holy See’s evangelization activities.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La gestione finanziaria - 3. Le norme di gestione patrimoniale della Santa Sede: dalla Pastor Bonus alla Praedicate Evangelium - 4. Riflessioni conclusive.

The art treasures of the Vatican in the Lateran Treaty

ABSTRACT: Drawing inspiration from a recent initiative by the Pontiff, the contribution focuses on the peculiar juridical condition of the art treasures kept in the Vatican City, resulting from a series of provisions of the Lateran Treaty, other international conventions and recent Vatican legislation on the protection of cultural heritage. The result is a complex and articulated regulatory framework that underlines the role of the Holy See as a custodian and guarantor of one of the greatest historical and artistic heritages of humanity.

Sommario - 1. Un gesto ecumenico di papa Francesco - 2. L’art. 18 del Trattato lateranense - 3. L’articolato quadro normativo attuale - 4. Suggestioni e questioni emergenti - 5. I tesori d’arte del Vaticano e la loro peculiare condizione giuridica - 6. Osservazioni conclusive.

The Institutions of Justice in “Praedicate Evangelium” *

ABSTRACT: This paper deals with the novelties that the new constitution on the Roman Curia “Praedicate Evangelium” has introduced in the regulation of the tribunals of justice of the Apostolic See. The change of name, the order in which they are regulated, the competencies assigned to them, their independence, among others, are the topics treated here, as well as some consequences that derive from them.

Resumen: 1. Organismos de justicia: orden de presentación y significado del nuevo título - 2. Los organismos de justicia como instituciones curiales - 3. La misión de los organismos de justicia - 4. Organismos ordinarios de justicia independientes entre sí - 5. La Penitenciaría Apostólica - 6. La Signatura Apostólica - 7. La Rota Romana - 8. Conclusión - Bibliografía.

The “Church Mission” in the Concordats after the Vatican Council II

ABSTRACT: The Concordat Policy of the Holy Seat went through an unexpected development after the Vatican Council II. The agreements subscribed over the last decades have indeed engaged with lots of European Countries, and the range expanded to the African and Asia continent. The new geography designed to this agreements also matches with innovations in the structure and content of them. This essay aims to analyze this innovation and its strict connection with the documents of the Vatican Council II, enlightening how this has determined a more theological view of the objectives through which the freedom of the Catholic Church defines and details itself. While the concordats of the first half of the past century accompanied, followed and enlarged the trajectory of the Church rights towards spiritualization, this new phase is, indeed, characterized by a theological placement of the interests, whose freedom is indeed the object of the protections granted by the Concordats, which are briefly expressed by the lemma “Church Mission”, found in the first articles of the Concordats. This lemma, in the conciliar texts, is characterized not only by a theological dimension, but also by its direct connection with religious freedom.

Sommario: 1. Una premessa - 2. I precedenti e il contesto dottrinale - 3. I documenti conciliari - 4. La “missione della chiesa” negli accordi concordatari tra XX° e XXI° secolo - 5. Per qualche annotazione conclusiva.

Vatican geopolitics, political institutions and episcopal ordinations in the People's Republic of China. Reflections on State-Church Relations

ABSTRACT: The agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China, concluded in 2018 ad experimentum, has been extended until 31-12-2024.Relations between the Vatican and the Holy See do not follow a linear trend, due to the recurring attempts of some Chinese clergy-so-called patriot clergy-to accept appointments as Diocesan Ordinary without the mandate of the Holy See. In such cases, the relevant regulatory provisions entail excommunication latae sententiae. This contribution, analysing some historical precedents such as the struggle for the endowments and the separation of the constitutional clergy in the period of the French Revolution, proposes an interpretation of the events to understand the Holy See's attitude in the remission of the excommunication to the patriot bishops: the realisation that Catholicism was no longer a phenomenon limited to the European world. The centre of gravity of the Church's influence is irreversibly declining towards non-European areas.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Introduzione al tema - 3. Ius publicum ecclesiasticum sinicum - 4. L’accordo del 2018 tra Santa Sede e Repubblica Popolare Cinese - 5. Il primo quadriennio di applicazione. Riflessioni critiche - 6. Storia e controstoria - 7. Le radici medievali dei rapporti tra Chiesa e Stato: tra Gregorio VII ed Enrico IV - 8. L’età moderna. Le aperture del vescovo G.B. Chiaramonti per una 'democrazia cristiana'. Gli 'articoli organici' del periodo napoleonico - 9. Storia e modernità nelle relazioni tra Chiesa e Repubblica Popolare Cinese.

SOMMARIO: 1. - La Chiesa “oltre” il diritto canonico: dialogo transdisciplinare e specificità ecclesiali - 2. Protezione vs salvaguardia: Child protection vs safeguarding - 3. Le lezioni dalla realtà e la loro “integrazione” nel diritto canonico - 3.1. L’ascolto delle vittime - 3.2. Non c’è prevenzione senza formazione - 3.3. Non c’è prevenzione senza cura - 3.4. Progettare le sanzioni e immaginare la riparazione - 4. Conclusioni. Salvaguardia dei minori e transdisciplinarietà del diritto canonico come cifra di una “Chiesa in uscita”. Luci e ombre di un percorso appena iniziato.

Safeguarding minors and the vulnerable in the Church: a systemic approach "listening to reality"

Abstract: The dialogue and the "virtuous contamination" between canon law and extra-juridical disciplines, mainly of a socio-humanistic nature, are the main novelty in the management of the phenomenon of sexual abuse by the clergy against minors and vulnerable people, both from a practical point of view as well as from a juridical-normative one. With this aim, the paper deals with some "lessons" drawn from the experience gained in the painful circumstances of the abuses of the clergy, analyzing the contribution and the impact of some extra-juridical disciplines on a model of canon law that is not self-referential but open and transdisciplinary.

The Catholic Church and abuses in the reform of canonical criminal law: the still uncertain appeal of secular law

ABSTRACT: Sanctioning clergy abuse without denying the soul of canonical criminal law is a challenge that the Catholic Church has been confronted with for two decades now, ever since John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Letter Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela in 2001 intending to combat this scourge. This process has recently resulted in the reform of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law. In investigating the new elements introduced by this reform, this contribution questions the relationship between canon law and secular criminal law.

SOMMARIO: 1. Sanzionare gli abusi senza rinnegare l’anima del diritto penale canonico - 2. Dagli scandali alla certezza della pena: nuovi principi a garanzia dell’effettività del diritto penale della Chiesa - 3. Le fattispecie: un’attenzione crescente per i diritti inviolabili della persona - 4. Sulla natura e la funzione dello ius Ecclesiae in dialogo con lo “ius civile”.

Integral ecological transition and religious discrimination of migrant women in the Mediterranean

SOMMARIO: 1. Ecologia integrale e parità di genere - 2. Flussi migratori nel Mediterraneo e discriminazioni religiose femminili - 3. Interventi europei di collaborazione interculturale nel Mare nostrum - 4. Verso un’unica polis euromediterranea?

ABSTRACT: In this essay it is hoped that the current development model will be overcome, because it is highly polluting and unfair from a socio-economic point of view, based as it is on competition and prevarication, the result of male hegemony in decision-making bodies and therefore discriminating for weaker and for women. These, on the other hand, must guide an integral ecological transition, because they are more inclined to the custody of creation and future generations, as well as to the improvement of the general living conditions of society, through sharing and dialogue, rather than with imposition and hard confrontation, as Pope Francis claims, in the encyclical Laudato si'. In particular, the ecological and social degradation caused by the androcentric system has increased the flows of migrants so-called environmental, which cross the Mediterranean Sea undergoing abuse and discrimination including religious ones. Above all, Muslim migrant women are more vulnerable also due to the misogynistic cultural heritage resulting from an erroneous and obsolete interpretation of the Koranic texts. Europe can be more involved in the fight against the negative consequences of climate change and discrimination against migrants, implementing policies inspired by sustainable development and intercultural solidarity, also with a view to fostering the ambitious and suggestive attempt to reach a integrated Euro-Mediterranean area.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Il contributo in generale dell’Avvocato al processo matrimoniale - 3. Il ruolo dell’Avvocato nella fase pregiudiziale - 4. Il libello quale cardine del Processus brevior - 5. Il ridimensionamento del ruolo del DV nel Processus brevior - 6. La centralità del ruolo dell’Avvocato quale conseguenza anche del ridimensionamento delle attribuzioni del Tribunale - 7. Conclusioni.

 The Attorney’s contribution for the purposes of Processus brevior

ABSTRACT: This paper concerns the centrality of the attorney in the Processus brevior. Because the Processus brevior’s particular structure compresses the ordinary canonical resources granted by the Legislator to the subjects involved in a matrimonial trial, the attorney becomes its principal director. In particular, the Libellus in a Processus brevior is not a canvas as in the ordinary process but becomes a script binding all parties intending to go ahead with this special canonical instrument until the desired sentence declaring the nullity of marriage.

SOMMARIO: 1. La valenza costituzionale della riforma della Curia romana - 2. La linea della ‘universalitas participata et pluralis Ecclesiae’ - 3. I beni della comunione e l’architettura delle Istituzioni curiali - 4. La congenita strumentalità dell’Istituzione curiale - 5. L’orizzonte istituzionale del servizio della Curia romana - 5.1. La vicarietà potestativa - 5.2. La cooperazione organica al servizio primaziale - 5.3. La corresponsabilità decentralizzante - 6. L’orizzonte personale del servizio della Curia romana - 6.1. La professionalità e la laicità - 6.2. La pastoralità e la spiritualità - 6.3. L’universalità e la temporaneità degli incarichi - 7. La promozione della razionalità e funzionalità della Curia - 8. Il cammino sinodale della riforma.

A ‘Structural’ Reading of “Praedicate Evangelium”

ABSTRACT: The article examines the (indirect and limited) constitutional value of the reform of the Roman Curia. The basic framework of Praedicate Evangelium is connected to the missionary impulse instilled by pontificate of Francis in the shared and plural structure of universality. The service of the Curia to the Church and to the world is founded upon its instrumental institutional character and on the maximum possible distribution of and participation in the goods of communion. Beyond the regulative aspects, this normative intervention develops various vectors and features of organization. At the institutional level, the vicarious dimension of power, the organic cooperation between the curial institutions and the decentralizing co-responsibility in the role of the episcopacy emerge. At the personal level, there is the encouragement of professional roles, of laity, of pastorality and spirituality, of the universality, and of the temporary nature of the offices. The criteria of rationality and functionality synthesize the aspiration to revise the central government. The reform of the Curia denotes a significant passage of the synodal way of the Church, which provides reasons for certain ecclesiological and speculative analysis, as well as for the perfection of canonical knowledge from a constitutional viewpoint.