Super-Metropolitan Jurisdictional Structures of the Oriental Catholic Churches: Notes for Reflection on Their Canonical and Ecclesial Nature

Abstract

The ecclesiological and canonical nature of supra-metropolitan jurisdictional structures of the Eastern Catholic Churches is a very intricate subject on which doctrine has ventured several times without obtained good results. This situation does not seem to depend on the inherent difficulty of the subject, but rather on the lack of clear and univocal conceptual categories that are, above all, shared among the authors. For this reason, since it is an essential prerequisite to start a speech on supra-metropolitan jurisdictional structures, a large part of the discussion is devoted to the exact identification of the concepts of Eastern Catholic Church and ecclesia sui iuris. Having done so, the study can proceed confidently by indicating some thoughts on jurisdictional supra-metropolitan structures of Eastern Catholic Churches.