Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

   

The article fits into the context of the doctrinal debate on the legal role of lay people in personal prelatures, and is a detailed monothematic study on the meaning and area of application of canon 294 of the CIC, which —as we know— controls the internal structure of the prelature. The rule is analysed both logically and teleologically, that is, it wishes to avoid any legal positivism and therefore any abstract consideration of the letter of the law as such; and instead proposes considering the latter in the light of the specific aims for which the legislator intended the institution of the personal prelature. This work, finally, presupposes —as is methodologically correct— logical coherence and the harmony of all canon ordinance, and avoids suggesting, as a principle, the unproven statement according to which the legislator would have produced an antinomy in said legislation, by creating, on the one hand, a structure such as the personal prelature, of which lay people, without doubt, form a constitutive part; and on the other, by in principle, depriving the laymen, on the basis of the general (codicial) legislative regime, of the legal function of «people» of the prelature. Further research develops the concepts of «immediate» and «mediate» membership of an ecclesiastical circumscription, with the idea of comparing primary and secondary organizational structures, and detailed examining of the specific nature and the theological-legislative consequences of the membership of the lay faithful to personal prelatures, with reference to the different legislative typologies of non-territorial jurisdiction.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states that the central Government has the total responsibility to legislate on prison issues even though the execution of that law can be carried out by the autonomous regional goverments. So far, Catalonia is the only territory that has exercised this opportunity, and has regulated religious care in penal institutions through the Instruction 1/2005. This article analyses the wording of this administrative order to determine if it is coherent with the national legislation, with the prior agreements between the State and the Catholic Church, and also with other religious institutions. The minimum standard rules of religious care should be guaranteed in the Instruction, but there are some questionable points in this order that limit the scope of the protection of religious freedom in prison. The system to appoint the chaplains, the regulation of the places of worship, the role of volunteers in religious care and the budget allocation are some of the topics treated in these pages.

The subject of the incardination of the clergy, the historical development of which is discussed here, implies aspects that represent the projection of certain ecclesiological concepts. The varied disciplinary, organizational and pastoral questions involved in the subject take on their significance relative to an image of the Church and the image of the ecclesiastical ministry which proceeds from the Church and is related to the Church. The study means to bring to the fore some of the fundamental questions connected with the argument, within the framework of the main trends by which an over twothousand- year-old history has been told. In order to understand these trends better, the Second Vatican Council has been chosen as a startingpoint for a retrospective examination. The Council emphasizes the ministerial significance of the Ordination of priests, and links the canon discipline of incardination with the purpose of service, within the Church and for the Church, whereby Ordination finds its true fulfillment. By expressing this awareness the Council follows the line of a tradition which had already been stated in the liturgical and canonical testimony of the ancient Church. The study looks through the most outstanding historical stages of the institution of incardination, from the ancient Church to the Council of Trent, and highlights the fact that in its legal and theological tradition the Church has always been conscious of the ministerial significance of Ordination and the resultant purposes of incardination.

The Concordia canonum discordantium was written gradually, with a number of consecutive revisions of its sections and subjects. This process did not equally affect the whole work, and also was done as a consequence of its use in a teaching milieu. Manuscripts Aa Bc Fd P Sg allow us to rebuild the previous stages of the version which was spread during the second half of the XII century (Decretum vulgatum). Aa Bc Fd P contain an old composition, the Concordia, but also show the revisions and enlargements which changed the Concordia into the Decretum (c. 1150). Aa Bc Fd P are not dead witnesses of a presumed «first redaction », because they include a sequence of events; and the coincidences among these manuscripts does not address to the original Gratian (UrGratian). The Exserpta ex decretis Sanctorum Patrum of Sg precedes Aa Bc Fd P and is not an abbreviation of the Concordia. Sg is a secondary manuscript, but it is the only witness of an early version, which was later enlarged and revised in terms of structure, expressions and style. Consequently, the critical edition of the Decretum Gratiani should reflect these aforementioned stages —Exserpta, Concordia, Decretum and Decretum vulgatum—; and also should show the intermediate stages within each section.

All data of a religious nature have supplementary protection measures in the 1999 Spanish Law on Data Protection of a personal nature. The application of the Law in the area of the Catholic Church must distinguish between the exercise of the function of registry and the use of personal data of the faithful within the framework of normal pastoral and organizational activities. The parish baptism, marriage and death registers are not archives in the legal sense; they reflect certain facts on the canon position of the faithful, with reference to the sacraments; they are under the rule of Canon Law. The demand for the cancellation of a baptismal register by appealing to the abovementioned law has no true basis. Among the archives which the ecclesiastical authorities may produce we must distinguish between those which bear relation to activities under the legislation of the State —of economic, fiscal, occupational or academic-teaching character— and those which respond to the internal organization of religious entities and the development of pastoral activities. With reference to the former, state legislation is applicable. The archives which refer to the internal organization of religious entities and pastoral activities are controlled by Canon Law.

The aim of this work is to study the relevance of Canon Law in the formation of lawyers. With this in mind and after stating that Canon Law is the strongest historically rooted legal system still in force, the foundations of its importance are analysed. It is of general interest for any lawyer. Its legislative production has had influence on the shaping of continental European law, and has contributed to legal techniques, and to widen the mental outlook of lawyers. Moreover, it can be of use in the different legal professions, as, on occasion, state laws recognise the effects of Canon Law. Later, it deals with the presence of Canon Law in Law Degrees, and shows that throughout our history Canon Law has been considered a basis discipline for the formation of lawyers, and was thus obligatory in the different curricula. However, at present it has disappeared as an obligatory subject, and is no longer found in the Directives for Law Degrees. It concludes with the present restructuring of university study, where the study of Canon Law could play an important role, for example, in the exchange of students; and also in the recovery of the concept of equity.