Contenuti per la categoria: Catholic church

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.

SOMMARIO: 1. Il discorso del Santo Padre Francesco (Santa Sede in senso proprio) ai membri dell’Assemblea Generale dell’Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite - 2. La posizione della Santa Sede in senso lato e dei vertici della Chiesa italiana - 3. Odierne prospettive nella linea di lavoro politico - 4. La via africana sul debito - 5. Argentina e Fondo Monetario Internazionale (FMI).

Holy See and illegitimate debt. The path to the International Court of Justice (2015-2022)

ABSTRACT: This work offers a synthesis of the main steps of the process towards the International Court of Justice, accomplished over a seven-year period by the Holy See and the Cartel of jurists inspired by the Charter of Sant’Agata de’ Goti – Declaration on Usury and International Debt (1997). The starting point is Holy Father Francis’ speech at the United Nations General Assembly (New York, September 25, 2015), where the devastating deviations of speculative finance were condemned. Next, the points of convergence with the positions taken on the matter by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) are described, as well as today’s perspectives on debt and the International Court of Justice, in the line of political engagement, with regard to the Gentiloni government and the first Conte government. Completing the discussion is a report on what the author calls the African way on debt and an in-depth look at the differences from a recent wide-ranging initiative aimed at resolving the long-standing issue of the Argentine debt.

SOMMARIO: 1. Osservazioni introduttive circa la disciplina degli enti religiosi alla luce del codice del Terzo settore - 2. Cenni al binomio sport-religione - 3. Il caso del Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI) - 4. Brevi considerazioni conclusive alla luce del documento “Dare il meglio di sé”.

Religious inspired sports bodies. The ‘Centro Sportivo Italiano’ case.

ABSTRACT: After an overview and highlighting of the most recent changes introduced to the Code of the Third Sector and of the wide range of interplay and frictions between religion and sport, from a legal perspective, the contribution focuses on the religious inspired sports bodies. Among these, the paper discusses the case of the Centro Sportivo Italiano and examines its statutes and association pact that outline the Catholic religious orientation. The essay ends by considering the 2018 document “Giving the best of yourself” of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, which can be described as the first real Catholic manifesto on the Catholic perspective on sport and human person.

SOMMARIO: Sezione I - Dalla fine del Concilio Vaticano II alla codificazione giovanneo-paolina: premesse alla Costituzione Apostolica Pascite gregem Dei del 2021 - 1. Il diffuso antigiuridismo postconciliare e i caratteri del Libro VI del Codex Iuris Canonici promulgato nel 1983 - 2. Lo scarso ‘riscontro sperimentale’ e gli ostacoli attuativi incontrati. Il trauma della cosiddetta ‘pedofilia’, l’impulso di Joseph Ratzinger, poi Benedetto XVI, in particolare nella repressione dei delicta graviora, e il progressivo smantellamento delle garanzie codiciali - 3. I protratti lavori preparatori in una stagione di concitate riforme legislative: gli ultimi provvedimenti normativi di papa Francesco prima della promulgazione del Libro VI De sanctionibus poenalibus in Ecclesia - Sezione II - La Pars I, De delictis et poenis in genere. 1. ‘Munus pastorale’ e pena nel prisma di una triplice ma unitaria finalità - 2. Un indiscusso passo avanti nella definizione delle pene, con alcune criticità da dipanare nel tragitto verso il maggior rigore - 3. Titulus IV, De poenis aliisque punitionibus: le novità - 4. A cavallo tra diritto penale sostanziale e processuale. Annotazioni sparse: dal risarcimento del danno alla procedura giudiziale versus quella amministrativa, dalla presunzione di innocenza alla prescrizione - Sezione III - La Pars II, De singulis delictis deque poenis in eadem constitutis - 1. Pregi sistematici, new entries e alcune ombre residue cagionate da una tecnica redazionale talora claudicante - 2. Problematicità di alcune fattispecie - 3. Il clou della riforma: i delitti di abuso, volano della riforma del diritto penale della Chiesa. Le fattispecie previste nel Codex Iuris Canonici - 4. Una non semplice sovrapposizione normativa - Sezione IV - Pronostici e auspici, ancora, de iure condendo - 1. Riprendere in mano il Libro VII De processibus - 2. Adeguare il Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium - 3. Ripensare competenza e organizzazione giudiziaria.

The Book VI De sanctionibus poenalibus in Ecclesia: innovations and some critical gleanings

ABSTRACT: Following a description of the development of Penal Canon Law after the Second Vatican Council and the 1983 codification, the essay dwells on an analysis of the most relevant innovations that were introduced in the new Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, which entered into forces as of December 8, 2021. It consists in a depiction that underlines the qualities and the improvements that were produced by the amendment promulgated by Pope Francis: but it also highlights some flaws regarding the drafting and the overall coordination of the Penal Canon legislation, both within and outside the Code. The most problematic profile among those that are examined is the one concerning the prevention and the repression of sexual abuses, of conscience and of authority: which is the dramatic challenge that the ecclesial community has had to face in the last thirty years. Lastly, in a de iure condendo perspective, we present some other interventions that the supreme legislator should promptly adopt in order to finally provide the Church with a Penal system that - both on the substantial and on the procedural side - is balanced, efficient and, above all, responding to justice.