Pope Benedict XVI speech for the inauguration of the Judicial Tribunal of the Rota
(January 29, 2009) In our meeting today I would like to draw the attention of legal
practitioners on the need to treat the cases with the necessary depth required by
the ministry with truth and love which is necessary for the Roman Rota, said Pope
Benedict XVI at the Annual inaugural of the Roman Rota, on Thursday, 29th
of January in Rome. The Tribunal of the Rota Romana or the Sacred Roman Rota is the
highest appellate tribunal of the Latin Rite and several of the Eastern Catholic Churches
and is the second highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See. The Catholic
Church has a complete legal system, which is the oldest and one of the most advanced
legal systems still in use today. The court is named Rota (wheel) because the judges,
called auditors, originally met in a round room to hear cases. Speaking of psychiatric
and psychological evaluations, the Holy Father said that it is worth making the first
line of demarcation between "an emotional maturity that would be the end of human
development", and "the maturity which is the minimum point of departure for the validity
marriage.” The Pope then added that “On this occasion, however, I would also reconsider
the issue activity-to marry, under canon 1095, in the light of the relationship between
the human person and the marriage and remember some basic principles should enlighten
practitioners. It is necessary first to discover positive capacity in principle that
every human person has to marry by virtue of its very nature of man or woman. We run
the risk of falling into an anthropological pessimism that, in light of today's cultural
situation, deemed almost impossible to get married. In this sense, the capacity should
be related to what is essentially a marriage, that is, "the intimate communion of
life and conjugal love, founded by the Creator and structured with proper laws" and,
in particular with the obligations that are inherent in it, to be taken by the spouses,
he said.