El derecho constitucional y la estructura de la Iglesia

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On these pages I propose a double objective: to make a critical commentary on the book of Sandro Gherro about Constitutional Canon Law and taking occasion of this commentary, to explain briefly what I understand of Constitutional Canon Law. In my opinion, there are two ways to understand the relation between constitutional canon law and the structure of the Church. These two ways need to be clarified because the juridical consequences which are derived from them are different, especially in relation with the 'principle of constitutionality'. Moreover, constitutional canon law is to be conceived actually in close relation with divine law. The reason for this is that divine law has the constitutional function based on its own nature, which is constituent of all ecclesiastical human law. In this sense, constitutional canon law will be reduced into a set of principles which are intrinsic to the fundamental structure of the Church and to the fundamental norms which are derived from them.