The decree, structured in six chapters, underlines the dignity of the Oriental Churches. The Christian Orient holds many authentic riches that must be preserved. The existence of these Oriental Churches, different from the Latin Catholic Church does not endanger the Church’s unity. The maintenance in the Orient of the Patriarchate structure doesn’t affect the hierarchical […]
The Council Fathers proposed to discuss about the role and the place that the Church has in today’s world and it was natural also to talk about the different utterances of the Church’s Catholicism. One of these form of utterance is represented by the Oriental Catholic Churches, of which reminds us the decree Orientalium ecclesiarum. […]
Among the Council’s documents the Constitution Lumen gentium takes a central place. It represents the best key to read the Council’s documents and it is also the main axis that stood at the base of those documents foundation. The Constitution reveals a new image of the Church: the Church is presented as the people of […]
The Church is an institution desired and created by Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God the Father embodied for the salvation of man. It is an alive and extensive reality that has its own structure and a history which interpenetrates with the history of humanity. The 2nd Vatican Council tried to propose to […]
In this article it is built a portrait of the attributions that a bishop has in the virtue of his ministry as shepherd of Christ’s flock. The bishop receives the sacrament of Priesthood in its plenitude and that is why he is called to exercise his ministry mission with a greater abnegation. The bishop has […]
Desired by the 2nd Vatican Council, the renewal work in the Church is in a peculiar way the outcome of priests’ efforts. This is why the Synod Fathers have considered that is more convenient to treat about the priesthood in a separate document. After presenting the nature of priesthood, the decree speaks about the priest’s […]
One of the most important documents of the 2nd Council of Vatican was the decree about the priestly ministry and life Presbyterorum ordinis, promulgated at 7 December 1965. This text is the result of four schemes and even from the beginning shows the christological structure of the priestly figure. The priest is sent to the […]
The decree Optatam totius occupies a special place between the documents of the 2nd Council of Vatican. This document, whose purpose is the priestly formation’s renovation conforming to the renovated image of the priest, is very close to Presbyterorum Ordinis, Lumen Gentium and to other documents, which discuss about the human, intellectual and pastoral formation […]
Starting with the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Church showed a great attention to the formation of the future priests. During the years, the popes gave a lot of indications to improve the modalities of formation, conforming to the pastoral milieu and the social conditions of the candidates. In 1965, at 28 October, the counciliar […]
The decree Christus Dominus forms a decisive stage in establishing the bishops’ mission, in outlining the true identity of the dioceses and of their shepherds. On the one hand it is presented the way that the bishop have to respect in practicing their service, and on the other hand it is expressed a clear legislative […]