The “Canonical Causes” of the Ecclesio-Ritual Passage According to an Unpublished Instructionof the Sacra Congregatio Pro Ecclesia Orientali (1928). A Rereading for our Time

Abstract

The “Rite” –i.e. the ecclesio-ritual ascription– has become a stable personal attribute of the Catholic faithful since the 15th century, and, therefore, a legal bond whose modification –regardless of a few cases regulated by law– requires singular intervention by the ecclesiastical authority. In practice, this “indult” is granted only in the presence of a “canonical cause”, recognized as sufficient by curial practice. A (confidential) Instruction sent to the Papal Representatives in 1929 identified a series of such causes. The present study offers a critical reading of this document in light of the renewed and now current practice of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.