Post by Pacelli on May 31, 2017 14:06:22 GMT -5
Papal Teaching on preserving intact the liturgy, customs, laws, hierarchical structure, and unique identity of the Eastern Rites.
(The following are taken from my notes on this topic, and should not be considered an exhaustive collection)
Pope Pius XII:
Pope Pius XII:
Pope Pius XI:
Pope Leo XIII:
(All emphasis added)
(The following are taken from my notes on this topic, and should not be considered an exhaustive collection)
Pope Pius XII:
2. In this connection it should be borne in mind that the orientals need have no fear at all of being compelled to abandon their lawful rites and customs if unity of faith and government is restored; our predecessors have more than once made this absolutely clear. "Nor is there any reason for you to fear on that account that we or any of our successors will ever diminish your rights, the privileges of your patriarchs, or the established ritual of any one of your churches."[2].
27. In the first place it must be noted that our predecessors have always shown the greatest zeal in protecting and preserving the lawful rites of the Ruthenians. For when the bishops, through the bishops of Vladimir and Lutsk who were sent to Rome on this business, asked "that His Holiness, for himself and his successors, who were never to make any change in this matter, would deign to preserve and confirm to the Eastern Church its administration of the sacraments, its rites and ceremonies, involate and entire, as in use at the time of the union."[7] Clement VIII graciously acceded to their petition, and prescribed that no alteration was to be made in these matters. Not even the use of the new Gregorian calendar was afterwards imposed on them, although it seemed at first that the Ruthenians ought to employ it while retaining the liturgical calendar of the Eastern rite; so that even now the Julian calendar can remain in force among them.
28. Furthermore, our same predecessor by a letter of 23rd February 1596 conceded that the election of those who had been duly nominated as suffragan bishops of the Ruthenians should be confirmed by the metropolitan, as was proposed in the pact of reconciliation, and in accordance with the ancient discipline of the Eastern Church...
29. From all this it is evident that our predecessors have always shown the same fatherly love to the Ruthenians as to the Catholics of the Latin rite. They have also considered it most important to defend the rights and privileges of their hierarchy. When many Latins asserted that the Ruthenian rite was of inferior standing, and some Latin bishops even declared that the Ruthenian prelates did not enjoy full episcopal rights and functions but were subject to them, this Apostolic See rejected these unjust and fanciful opinions; on 28th September 1643 a decree was published to the following effect: "Cardinal Pamphili reported divers decrees of the special Congregation for the united Ruthenians and His Holiness approved the decree of the same special Congregation of the preceding 1st August, that the Ruthenian bishops in union were bishops, and were to be so called and regarded. He approved the decree of the same Congregation that the Ruthenian bishops should be able to erect schools in their dioceses for the instruction of their youth in letters and sciences, and that the Ruthenian ecclesiastics enjoyed the privileges fori, canonis, immunitatis, libertatis, which the priests of the Latin Church enjoy."[8]. (Orientales Omnes Ecclesias, Pius XII, 23 December 1945)
27. In the first place it must be noted that our predecessors have always shown the greatest zeal in protecting and preserving the lawful rites of the Ruthenians. For when the bishops, through the bishops of Vladimir and Lutsk who were sent to Rome on this business, asked "that His Holiness, for himself and his successors, who were never to make any change in this matter, would deign to preserve and confirm to the Eastern Church its administration of the sacraments, its rites and ceremonies, involate and entire, as in use at the time of the union."[7] Clement VIII graciously acceded to their petition, and prescribed that no alteration was to be made in these matters. Not even the use of the new Gregorian calendar was afterwards imposed on them, although it seemed at first that the Ruthenians ought to employ it while retaining the liturgical calendar of the Eastern rite; so that even now the Julian calendar can remain in force among them.
28. Furthermore, our same predecessor by a letter of 23rd February 1596 conceded that the election of those who had been duly nominated as suffragan bishops of the Ruthenians should be confirmed by the metropolitan, as was proposed in the pact of reconciliation, and in accordance with the ancient discipline of the Eastern Church...
29. From all this it is evident that our predecessors have always shown the same fatherly love to the Ruthenians as to the Catholics of the Latin rite. They have also considered it most important to defend the rights and privileges of their hierarchy. When many Latins asserted that the Ruthenian rite was of inferior standing, and some Latin bishops even declared that the Ruthenian prelates did not enjoy full episcopal rights and functions but were subject to them, this Apostolic See rejected these unjust and fanciful opinions; on 28th September 1643 a decree was published to the following effect: "Cardinal Pamphili reported divers decrees of the special Congregation for the united Ruthenians and His Holiness approved the decree of the same special Congregation of the preceding 1st August, that the Ruthenian bishops in union were bishops, and were to be so called and regarded. He approved the decree of the same Congregation that the Ruthenian bishops should be able to erect schools in their dioceses for the instruction of their youth in letters and sciences, and that the Ruthenian ecclesiastics enjoyed the privileges fori, canonis, immunitatis, libertatis, which the priests of the Latin Church enjoy."[8]. (Orientales Omnes Ecclesias, Pius XII, 23 December 1945)
Pope Pius XII:
27. We would have this to be known and appreciated by all, both by those who were born within the bosom of the Catholic Church, and by those who are wafted towards her, as it were, on the wings of yearning and desire. The latter especially should have full assurance that they will never be forced to abandon their legitimate rites or to exchange their own venerable and traditional customs for Latin rites and customs. All these are to be held in equal esteem and equal honor, for they adorn the common Mother Church with a royal garment of many colors. Indeed this variety of rites and customs, preserving inviolate what is most ancient and most valuable in each, presents no obstacle to a true and genuine unity. (Orientalis Ecclesiae, Pius XII, 9 April 1944.)
Pope Pius XI:
It has most especially been the habit of the Roman Church, the head of all the Churches, to render to the Churches of the East a great degree of honor and love in remembrance of the Apostles, to rejoice in her turn in their faithful obedience. Amidst changing and difficult times, she has never failed in any way in farsightedness and acts of kindness to sustain them against the forces that would strike them again and again, to hold fast to those that were overwhelmed, to call back those in discord with her. Nor was it the last expression of her watchfulness that she guard and preserve in them whole and entire forever the customs and distinct forms for administering the sacraments that she had declared legitimate in her wise jurisdiction. Examples of this are the many decisions of Our Predecessors, in the first place Pius IX of happy memory, promulgated in their own pontifical acts or through documents issuing from the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. We ourselves have felt the prompting of no lesser zeal. At the very beginning of Our Pontificate, We turned eyes full of love towards the Christian nations of the East. We made haste, in fact, to direct Our solicitude to alleviating their state of want. We then saw the beginning of other opportunities for bearing witness to Our feelings of kind regard and expressing them in deeds. But nothing was nor is more important, nothing more sacred than to kindle the ardor, to elicit fruitfulness in the Faith in those souls in union with the Apostolic See, so that they shine forth as renewed proofs of the excellence and glory of their ancestors.
22. If We begin in this way by reconciling individuals and nations with one another, there will come about at the same time unity for the Church, for then there shall return to her bosom all those who have separated from her, no matter what their motives for doing so may have been. The actual effecting of this unity will not be brought about by human effort, but only by the goodness of that God who "is not a respecter of persons" (Acts x, 34) and who "puts no difference between us and them." (Acts xv, 9) In such a union, all nations, no matter what their race, their language, or their liturgy, will enjoy the selfsame rights, for the Roman Church has always and religiously respected and preserved these liturgies. She has even decreed that they must be used, and she has adorned herself with them as with precious garments, like "a queen . . . in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety." (Psalms xliv, 10). (Ecclesiam Dei, Pope Pius XI, November 12, 1923)
22. If We begin in this way by reconciling individuals and nations with one another, there will come about at the same time unity for the Church, for then there shall return to her bosom all those who have separated from her, no matter what their motives for doing so may have been. The actual effecting of this unity will not be brought about by human effort, but only by the goodness of that God who "is not a respecter of persons" (Acts x, 34) and who "puts no difference between us and them." (Acts xv, 9) In such a union, all nations, no matter what their race, their language, or their liturgy, will enjoy the selfsame rights, for the Roman Church has always and religiously respected and preserved these liturgies. She has even decreed that they must be used, and she has adorned herself with them as with precious garments, like "a queen . . . in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety." (Psalms xliv, 10). (Ecclesiam Dei, Pope Pius XI, November 12, 1923)
Pope Leo XIII:
Inasmuch as this diversity of liturgical form and discipline of the Eastern Churches is approved in law, besides its other merits, it has redounded tremendously to the glory and usefulness of the Church. They ought not figure any less as subjects of Our charge. So much is this the case that it is in the best interest of all that their discipline not haphazardly borrow anything that would be ill-suited from Western ministers of the Gospel whom love for Christ compels to go to those peoples.
(Orientalium Dignitas, Pope Leo XIII, November 30, 1894)
(Orientalium Dignitas, Pope Leo XIII, November 30, 1894)
(All emphasis added)