The Ordo-Plebs Structure as the Foundational Pillar of the Canonical Constitutional System

Abstract

This article individuates in the structure ordo-plebs the fundamental layout of constitutional entities, overcoming in this way the limits of the legal formulation of the constitutional hierarchy of the Church. Over and above the equivocity and the possibility of greater precision of the expression, this formulation reflects the ascendancy and the relevance of patristic notions. Those entities of a constitutional nature are configured as apostolic companions integrated into the hierarchically constituted ordo and of the historically individuated community. The divinesacramental presupposition and the involvement of all the faithful leads one to harmonize the hierarchical element (a ministerial body that is unified and cohesive) with the awareness and the workings of the people (an active and living community). The realization of the organic cooperation is the precise measure of the degree of participation and of sharing in the pastoral action of ecclesiastical circumscriptions.