El respeto de la distinción entre fuero interno y externo en la formación sacerdotal

Abstract

The distinction between the internal and external jurisdiction is traditional in the life of the Church and constitutes an expression of the protection of the conscience and of the intimacy of the faithful people. In the area of the priestly formation the distinction of jurisdictions favors the possibility of formation and ecclesial discernment from the interiority of the seminarian, in the full respect of her requirements. It could bring some problems concerning the necessary coordination between both jurisdictions, that must be realized in base to the distinction of the same ones, to the sense of the above mentioned distinction and to the values that they guard, so that there happens a process of serious and authentic discernment, which favors the opening conscience of the seminarian, the respect of his intimacy and the exercise of his responsible freedom and that, at the same time, safeguards the responsibility of the Church in the discernment of the suitability for Orders.