“Accountability” and the juridical responsibility of the public ecclesiastical administration

Abstract

Integral to the governance of the Church is the day-to-day administration and concrete protection of her goods. At all levels, the public administration has to be accountable for its realization of the standard of good governance. Such accountability, and the related phenomenon of transparency – concepts employed and emphasized in secular juridical doctrine and corporation management practice – ought not be exaggerated or applied indiscriminately to the Church. They must always correspond with the order given by the divine constitution of the Church.