The schedule for a Study Day titled “The Code: A Reform Desired and Requested by the
Council” was unveiled Tuesday to journalists in the Vatican Press Office. It will
take place on 25 January, in the Pius X Hall, Rome, marking the 30th anniversary of
the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law.
The study day has been organized
by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the International Institute of
Canon Law and Comparative Studies of Religion in Lugano, Switzerland and is sponsored
by the Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) Vatican Foundation and the John Paul II Foundation.
Participating in the conference were Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of
the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary
of that dicastery, and Msgr. Giuseppe Antonio Scotti, president of the Joseph Ratzinger
(Benedict XVI) Vatican Foundation.
Cardinal Coccopalmerio began his address
with the recollection that Blessed John XXIII, in his speech convening Vatican Council
II in 1959, explained that the Council’s legal scope was to bring about the awaited
revision of the 1917 Code. “In his broad perspective, the Pope saw clearly that the
revision of the Code had to be guided by the new ecclesiology that emerged from an
ecumenical and a global summit such as the Council.” Blessed John Paul II, under whose
pontificate the Code was promulgated, also repeated that “the council’s ecclesiological
structure clearly required a renewed formulation of its laws”.
“As John Paul
II emphasized at the beginning of the Apostolic Constitution ‘Sacrae disciplinae leges’,
the reason for the close relationship between Vatican Council II and the Code of Canon
Law was that the 1983 Code was the culmination of Vatican II … in two ways: on the
one hand, it embraces the Council, solemnly reproposing fundamental institutions and
major innovations and, on the other, establishing positive norms for implementing
the Council.”
The president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
then cited various examples of the strong bond between Vatican Council II and the
Code of Canon Law.
The first is the “doctrine regarding the episcopate and
the relationship between the episcopate and the primate, that is, episcopal collegiality.
This is not entirely new doctrine in the deep consciousness of the Church but rather
a happy discovery. The Code firstly, in canons 330–341, represents this clearly, and
secondly, in canons 342–348, accompanies it with the positive view that constitutes
the structure of the Synod of Bishops, allowing effective implementation of the structure
of episcopal collegiality.”
A second example is the “Council’s teaching on
the laity and therefore on the appropriate and active mission of the lay faithful
in the life of the Church. Once again, this is not absolutely new but more a rediscovery
… through a series of regulations … regarding the diocesan pastoral council or … the
parochial pastoral council. They are structures that allow the faithful laity to effectively
participate in the pastoral decisions of the bishop or the pastor. This innovation
is also the eloquent voice of the faithful relationship between Council and Code.”
“A
third example may come from the conception of the parish as presented by the Council
and implemented by the Code. Ultimately, the Council conceives of the parish as a
community of believers, not as a structure or a territory. This represents an important
innovation with respect to the previous point of view. The Code receives this concept,
particularly in canon 515, and sanctions it with the positive regulations of the following
canons.”
A final example of doctrine and innovation provided by the Council
in the area of ecumenism “resides in the conciliar documents ‘Lumen gentium’, ‘Orientalium
Ecclesiarum’, and ‘Unitatis redintegratio’, which show the doctrine of ecclesial communion
as still imperfect yet real and existent between the Catholic Church and other Churches
or non-Catholic communities. This is also a fact of incalculable value and scope already
found in the Council and then later in the Code (cf. canon 844), with the possibility
of welcoming non-Catholic Christians, even if under specific conditions, into the
sacraments of the Catholic Church.
“In conclusion,” finished the cardinal,
“we can affirm that the happy union between Vatican Council II and the Code of Canon
Law has produced fruits of renewal in the life of the Church in many areas and on
many levels.”