The impassioned appeal which the Apostle to the nations addresses to Timothy:" I charge thee in the sight of God and Jesus Christ, (...) to preach the Word, be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke (...) Be watchful in all things, fulfill thy ministry" (2 Tim 4, 1-5) which applies in a special way to the sacred pastors who are called by office, "to foster the discipline which is common to the whole Church (...) pressing for the observance of all ecclesiastical laws". (119)

This grave duty constitutes a necessary means by which the richness present in every state of ecclesial life can be correctly conformed to the promptings of the Spirit and by which communion becomes an effective reality in the daily journeying of the entire Community.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, to whose intercession this document is commended, assist all in understanding its purpose, and bring to fruitful completion those efforts, made in apostolic concern, to apply it faithfully.

All particular laws, customs and faculties conceded by the Holy See ad experimentum or other ecclesiastical authorities which are contrary to the foregoing norms are hereby revoked.

The Supreme Pontiff, in Audience of the 13th of August 1997 approved in forma specifica this present Instruction and ordered its promulgation.

Vatican City 15 August 1997, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Signed by: Congregation for the Clergy
Darío Castrillón Hoyos, Pro-Prefect
Crescenzio Sepe,Secretary

Pontifical Council for the Laity
James Francis Stafford, President
Stanislaw Rylko, Secretary

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect
Tarcisio Bertone, SDB,Secretary

Congregation for Divine Warship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez, Pro-Prefect
Geraldo Majella Agnelo, Secretary

Congregation for Bishops
Bernardin Cardinal Gantin, Prefect
Jorge María Mejía,Secretary

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Jozef Cardinal Tomko, Prefect
Giuseppe Uhac, Secretary

Congregation for Institutes of Consecretated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
Eduardo Cardinal Martínez Somalo, Prefect
Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti, CP, Secretary

Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts
Julián Herranz, President
Bruno Bertagna, Secretary

NOTE: This is the first Vatican document ever to be signed unanimously by all departments of the Curia. This concludes the entire document released by the Holy See on November 13. For review, see archives.

DAILY CATHOLIC      Vicar of Christ Speaks     volume 8, no. 59

December 1997