Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts Archives

Vatican officials offer guidance for German Church gathering

The German bishops’ plans for a two-year process of consultation and deliberation on key issues facing the Catholic Church must conform to universal church law and must be approved by the pope, said the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

Official looks at meaning, role of ‘metropolitan archbishop’

Designating an archdiocese as a “metropolitan see” is part of an organizational model, borrowed from the Romans, that goes back to the early days of Christianity, said Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.

Vatican’s former legal chief says canon law should include care of creation
- Catholic News Agency, Vatican
- Jul 18, 2018
The Vatican’s former top advisor on canon law has made a public call to insert legal obligations for the care of creation into the Church’s universal canon law – making it a legal duty for Catholics not only “not to harm” the environment, but to improve it.
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Vatican officials say Pope didn’t glide over rules when marrying couple on plane
- Catholic News Service, Vatican
- Jan 23, 2018
Pope Francis’s decision to convalidate the marriage of two flight attendants in the air sent waves of turbulence through the Catholic blogosphere. “The pope saw an opportunity and he worked it,” said Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.
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Vatican says abortion, attempted suicide are bars to priesthood
- Catholic News Service, Vatican
- Sep 16, 2016
The sacredness of human life is so absolute that performing or helping procure an abortion or attempting suicide is an obstacle to ordination as a Catholic priest, even if the man was not Catholic at the time the events occurred, said a new Vatican ruling personally okayed by Pope Francis.
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