La figura del vicario para la vida consagrada: aspectos canónicos

Abstract

This paper surveys the juridical person of the Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated Life, studying the normative sources which have generated it and highlighting the constituent aspects of the office, as well as the competences allocated to it by the general law. The Episcopal Vicar's office arises from the Decree Christus Dominus, later developed by the M.P. Ecclesiae Sanctae. There is however no explicit reference to the person of the Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated Life until the Directory Ecclesiae Sanctae in 1973. The document Mutuae Relationes and the extant Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, Apostolorum Successores, draw up the basic outline of this office. In the light of these documents and of the Code of Canon Law, the author examines the praxis of jurisdictional power of the Episcopal Vicar for Religious Life in relationship to that of the Diocesan Bishop, of the Vicar General and of the other Episcopal Vicars, if there are any. In different particular churches the Episcopal Delegate for Consecrated Life has been established, showing different ways of doing this in response to the needs and circumstances of each specific diocese. The article offers examples of different ways in which the power of jurisdiction is exercised. Finally, the author examines the competences of the Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated life: these differ according to the greater or lesser degree of autonomy of each Institute of Consecrated Life, so one must study the general criteria which define the fields of autonomy and dependence of each institute vis a vis the diocesan bishop, in the light of the proper nature of each institute and its mission in the church, but also in the light of the centrality of the pastoral ministry of the Bishop in the particular church.