On the new Motu Proprio on personal prelatures

The "personal prelatures" are a juridical reality, born of the Second Vatican Council, for the purposes specified in the conciliar text, and should not be assimilated to any other.

August 10, 2023-Reading time: < 1 minutes
Motu proprio

Motu proprio issued by the Holy See

Assimilating the "Personal prelatures"In my opinion, the Second Vatican Council is not being interpreted correctly. The Council, for the ecclesial purposes it specifies in the Decree "Presbyterorum Ordinis"But no, the Second Vatican Council spoke precisely of "Prelatures" and it is not too much to suppose that the Council Fathers knew how to distinguish between "Prelatures" and "Associations".

The "personal prelatures" are a juridical reality, born of the Second Vatican Council, for the purposes specified in the conciliar text, and should not be assimilated to any other, much less to an Association.

If it were necessary to look for an assimilation, which some seem to like so much, it would have to be assimilated, in some way, to the territorial prelatures, which already existed at the time of the Council and the Council Fathers were well aware of what they were.

Here, as always in language, the noun is important, not so much the adjective.

The authorCelso Morga

Archbishop of the Diocese of Mérida Badajoz

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