"RESCRIPTUM EX AUDIENTIA SS.MI"
REGARDING THE CREATION OF A COLLEGE,
WITHIN THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH,
FOR THE EXAMINATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL APPEALS
INVOLVING DELICTA GRAVIORA

 

The Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (SST) of 30 April 2001, amended on 21 May 2010, details which crimes are reserved to the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (cf. Art. 1-6), in accordance with Art. 52 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus.

In judging said crimes, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith proceeds through the penal, judicial or administrative process (cf. Art. 21 § 1 e § 2, n. 1 sst), subject to the possibility of direct submission to the decision of the Supreme Pontiff in the most serious cases (cf. Art. 21 § 2, n. 2 sst). This is on the understanding that, in relation to crimes against the faith, jurisdiction in the first instance pertains to the Ordinary or Hierarch (cf. Art. 2 § 2 sst).

Due to the number of appeals and the need to ensure a more rapid examination of the same, after deep reflection, in the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Secretary of State on 3 November 2014,

 

the Supreme Pontiff Francis

 

has decreed the following:

1. within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith a special Board shall be established, made up of seven cardinals or bishops, who may be either members of the Dicastery or external to it;

2. The President and members of the said Board shall be named by the Pope;

3. The Board shall be an instance the Ordinary Session (Feria IV) of the Congregation shall equip itself with to ensure greater efficiency in the examination of appeals under Art. 27 sst, without modifying its competence in the field as established in the same Art. 27 sst;

4. if the offender is one invested with the dignity of bishop, his appeal shall be examined by the Ordinary Session, which may also decide in cases specifically reserved to the judgment of the Pope. Furthermore it can decide on other cases deferred by the Board;

5. it shall be left to the Board to inform the Ordinary Session of its rulings periodically;

6. A special Regulation shall determine the internal operating procedures of the Board.

The Holy Father has disposed that the present General Executive Decree be promulgated with its publication in L’Osservatore Romano, entering into force on 11 November 2014, and subsequently in the official register Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

 

From the Vatican, 3 November 2014

 

+ Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State