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Concordat Watch - FAQ - content area

Glossary for realists

The purpose of this glossary is to point out how these terms are actually used, as opposed to how they are officially defined.

It's easy to be caught in an enclosed world of religious concepts which all fit together nicely (as the result of centuries of finessing by theologians) — yet which may not happen to describe reality. So let's try to look past the theological justifications and see how the Church uses these terms for practical ends.

For more information, click on each term.

Apostolic administration

This places a diocese directly under the pope, which has proven a tactful way of firing a bishop....

Apostolic Signatura

This highest Church court, which spurns modern rules of evidence, can rule on people's marriages. Its judgements are upheld by the Austrian concordat....

Canon Law

This is Catholic religious law, the Vatican's counterpart to (Jewish) Halakha, Hindu Law and Sharia. Concordats help let this law influence the lives of many who are employed or served by Church social service agencies....

Canonical mission

This check on the orthodoxy and the personal life of a theology professor can also be used to weed out women.

Concordats

Originally they were pacts between two rulers, upheld by threats of excommunication. With the rise of nation states they became treaties between two governments, enforced by international law. Now they lay claim to be “international human rights treaties”, guaranteed by the charters of rights of the EU and the UN. Concordats can adapt to any political climate, from dictatorships to democracies, but their aim for the Church remains the same: to increase its own power. (See also What are concordats? )

Congrua

This is a state subsidy for clerical salaries. It was meant for the working clergy, and comes from the 18th-century sale of lands held by the "idle" monks....

Corporation under public law in Germany and Austria

A corporation under public law provides public services (at taxpayers' expense) yet is not accountable to the voters, like services provided directly by the state. This status is explicitly granted to the Church in the Austrian concordat and assumed in the German one. It prevents separation of church and state.

Holy See

This is the government both of the Roman Catholic Church and of the State of the Vatican City. This arrangement gives the Church the privileges of a country. For more see here.

Legal / juridical person

Originally invented as a legal fiction to ensure that a group (for example of monks) was held accountable for  its debts, it is now skillfully used by the Church to limit its own liability....

Prelature (territorial or personal)

Assigning a territory or a group to a prelature removes it from the normal Church hierarchy and places it directly under the pope. This is done when, for various reasons, the Vatican does not wish to submit it to the jurisdiction or the oversight of a bishop.

Rites of the Catholic Church

In addition to the Latin (or Roman) Rite, the Church has other liturgical traditions which still acknowledge the pope. In Europe the most common of these is the Greek (or Byzantine) Rite among some Slavs. Others are the Armenian, Alexandrian, Antiochian and East Syrian rites. The non-Latin rites are also covered by the concordats, sometimes explicitly.

Roman Rota
Total found: 13
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