Holy Mass for members of the Vatican Tribunal

(January 21.2012) Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone Vatican Secretary of State celebrated an inaugural Mass on behalf of the members of Holy Roman Rota, at the start of the Judicial Year for Vatican Tribunals. In his homily, the Cardinal underlined that the ecclesiastical judge is called upon to interpret the law so as to illumine the lives of the faithful with the light of truth; his interpretation has to be objective, because he is not above but below the law”, this was a quote from the allocution of Pope Pius XII to the Roman Rota as way back as 1947. The ecclesiastical Judge’s duty was to illumine a concrete truth for the good of persons. Those who serve justice in the church needed the gifts of wisdom and intelligence; which lead men to spiritual adulthood. The Sacred Roman Rota is one of the three Tribunals of the Church. Its full name is "Apostolic Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota" It is the highest appellate tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church, with respect to both Latin-rite members and the eastern-rite members and is, with respect to judicial trials conducted in the Catholic Church, the highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See. The Catholic Church has a complete legal system, which is the oldest still in use today. The court is named Rota (wheel) because the judges, called auditors, originally met in a round room to hear cases. The Rota was established in the 13th century.