Expert Synod body proposes changes to canon law

The 10-member commission, established in 2023, was formed to assist the General Secretariat of the Synod. The group’s coordinator was Archbishop Filippo Iannone O.Carm, the prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts at the time of the commission’s establishment, and now prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

In releasing the commission’s final report, Synod secretary general Cardinal Mario Grech said “while the whole Church is engaged in theological and ecclesiological reflection on her synodal nature, it seemed important to initiate a corresponding reflection on the norms – the canons – that govern her organisation and the relationships among her members”.

“The same reflection will also extend to the law of the Eastern Catholic Churches, for which a specific commission has recently been established,” Cardinal Grech added. “Without corresponding canon law, theology would remain incomplete, ‘like a man with only one arm’, as Pope Leo XIII once recalled.”

In summarising the proposed changes to the Code of Canon Law, the General Secretariat of the Synod stated:

• The first part of the document contains proposals to amend the canons of the Code concerning the possibility for the lay faithful, both men and women, to exercise in the Church those offices, functions and ministries for which they are suitably qualified and competent, including within the sphere of ecclesial governance.
• The second part proposes the revision, from a synodal perspective, of certain canons concerning Particular Councils and Episcopal Conferences, namely those ecclesial bodies entrusted with fostering collaboration among the local Churches.
• Finally, the third part addresses participatory bodies as already established in the Code, while proposing amendments aimed at strengthening their participatory dimension and missionary orientation.

Like the Final Reports of the Study Groups, the present Report is to be considered a working document.

FULL STORY

Synod’s canonical commission calls for diocesan synods, provincial councils every 10 years, ‘complete revision’ of Code of Canon Law (Catholic Culture)

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Proposed amendments to canons concerning Ecclesial Governance, Participation of the faithful and Accountability (General Secretariat of the Synod)