Presentation of the Latest Publications of the "Gratianus Series"
On Monday, March 5 took place a presentation of the latest publications of the "Gratianus Series." Cardinals Raymond L. Burke, Julián Herranz, Antonio Cañizares and Velasio De Paolis offered brief remarks.
Canon Law helps promoting the new Evangelization, according to four Cardinals
In a world where opinion often takes priority over reason, and where law is considered a mere limitation to individual freedom, the Catholic Church’s renewed attention in Canon Law would seem out of place. On the contrary, it is through Canon Law that the Church puts into practice the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. Benedict XVI’s pontificate follows this precise course, a course which Blessed John Paul II also took when he sanctioned the renewed Code of Canon Law in 1983, after 20 years of work by the Post-Conciliar Commission.
On February 3, 1983, in a memorable speech to the Curia when issuing the Code, John Paul II offered an image that defines the role of Canon Law in the Church up to this today: “It is a perfect triangle: at the top, Sacred Scripture; on one side, the Acts of Vatican II, and on the other, the new Code of Canon Law. In order to reach once again that supreme and indispensible height, we must pass the two sides of this triangle in an orderly way, coherently starting with these two books created by the Church of the 20th Century. It must be done without negligence or omission, respecting the necessary connections: I mean to say the entire Magisterium of the previous Ecumenical Councils, as well as that patrimony of juridical wisdom (ommitting of course, any obsolete or repealed norms) that belong to the Church.”
On March 5th at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, four cardinals spoke about how Canon Law, far from being just a cold application of rules and codes, is one of the most pastoral aspects of the Church. The occassion was a presentation of the most recent volumes edited within the Gratianus Series, published by the Canadian editor Wilson & Lafleur Ltée. Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, presented the volume Ministerium Iustitiae: Jurisprudence of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, explaining the role of the Tribunal, its function, and some concrete examples of responses to specific cases. Cardinal Canizares liturgically illustrated the very conciliar theme of concelebration. The book he presented, La concélébration eucharistique - Du symbole à la réalité, is an analysis that examines documents beginning with Vatican II up until Benedict XVI, in the light of Canon Law.
Cardinal Julián Herranz, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, who served for years as Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law, also spoke. He called attention to the Second Vatican Council presenting a new Edition of a Canon Law classic signed by Alvaro del Portillo: Fidèles et laïcs dans l' Église - Fondement de leurs statuts juridiques respectifs. Del Portillo was nominated in 1963 by Blessed John XXIII to be a consultant for the Pontifical Commission handling the Code of Canon Law’s revision. His work remains a definitive point of reference. Cardinal Herranz emphasized the principle of the “lay faithful,” understood through the perspective of paragraph 31 of Lumen Gentium. It is necessary to recover the role of the lay person in a world that would like to forget about God. The center of Vatican II is precisely the universal call to holiness and to apostolate. Canon Law, which deals with the concrete realities of Christian life, must also rediscover its citizenship in the daily activity of Church life. In this way it can become a means of new evangelization and of spreading the Second Vatican Council’s basic themes, in order to bring Christ where many would rather drive Him out.
Cardinal Velasio de Paolis, Prefect Emeritus of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs, spoke at length about this same theme. He presented the English edition of Monsignor Piero Amenta’s book: Administrative Procedures in Canonical Marriage Cases: History, Legislation and Praxis. De Paolis highlighted the difference between the dissolution of a non-sacramental, marital bond and a valid, but un-consumated marriage. He also spoke about administrative procedures that do not place the indissolubility of marriage in question, and the judicial process for a declaration of annullment. Questions about marriage in today’s world are both delicate and frequent, and juridical practices, if well applied, can become a fundamental element in evangelization. There should be no “division between doctrine and juridical practice. On the contrary, Canon Law should be seen as a theological area” explained the Cardinal. For this reason, judiciary processes should be supported and introduced into the Church’s juridical world. Yet it should be never substituted by mere administrative proceedings or by a desire for brevity that hampers the search for truth.
Following the Council, the study of Canon Law appeared to go “out of fashion”. Nothing however, could have been further from the intentions of the Council Fathers’, who immediately decided to re-examine the Code of Canon Law which had been issued in 1917. The goal was to update the Code according to the renewed reality of Church life that emerged, with the hope of reaching the faithful with the great doctrinal patrimony of Tradition and Magisterium.
Angela Ambrogetti (Korazym.org)
