The Constitutional-Canonistic Thought of Álvaro del Portillo

Abstract

The article, after tracing a profile of the formation and of the scientific and pastoral activity of Bishop del Portillo, examines his contribution to the constitutional-canonical science. This contribution of the recent Blessed was very significant in the preparation of the Lex Ecclesiae Fundamentalis project, both by means of the texts he presented and through his presentations in the sessions, the exchanges had with other members of the Commission, and his contemporaneous work. His published writings lucidly illustrated the constitutional concept both regarding the faithful and their fundamental rights and concerning the exercise of ecclesiastical governance. The promotion of the dignity and freedom of the children of God, of the identity and mission of the laity, of the private autonomy of the faithful and the principle of subsidiarity, of the diaconal nature of the role of the hierarchy, and of the flexibility and the pastoral dimension of ecclesiastical organization are all appropriately included and safeguarded precisely in the constitutional horizon.