Departmental collaboration

BY A STAFF REPORTER
THE reform of the Curia,
as well as extending the influence of the diocesan bishops—and at the same time curbing the power of the cardinal prefects—wilt mean closer collaboration between the departments at the Vatican.
Disputes over whether a particular department is competent to deal with a given matter will be settled by a new section of the Curia: the Apostolic Signature.
Although some outdated departments have been suppressed, the creation of new departments has increased the total number.
Each sacred congregation, with a few exceptions, will now comprise a number of cardinals and seven bishops. The bishops will attend only plenary annual sessions to discuss matters of policy, and will be appointed for five-year terms, though reappointment will be permitted. They will automatically lose office on the death of a Pope unless the new Pope confirms them in office:
LAY ADVISERS
Laymen will for the first time be allowed to serve as advisers to the congregations, although there are already lay consultants on two less-official bodies — the Secretariats for Non-Christians and for NonBelievers.
Pope Paul VI's reforms of the Roman Curia will affect Vatican departments in the following ways:
• The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Holy Office) is governed by the rules of 1965, which put several curbs on its powers and gave persons accused of heresy a full chance to defend themselves. The present Pro-Prefect is Cardinal Ottaviani.
• The Congregation for the Oriental Church is renamed "Congregation for the Oriental Churches" and is responsible for all matters concerning Catholics of the Eastern Rites. Separate offices will handle the
affairs of each rite. The congregation will collaborate with the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity in matters concerning relations with the Moslems.
• The Consistorial Congregation is renamed "Congregation for Bishops." It handles the establishment of new dioceses, suppressions and mergers of old ones and appointments of bishops outside mission territories and countries of oriental rite. It also supervises the work of individual bishops, orders inspec
tions where required, and lays down rules for work of national episcopal conferences.
• The powers of the Congregation for Sacramental Discipline are unchanged except that it is given sole authority to dissolve marriages that have not been consummated. Such cases in the past were handled by other congregations when one partner was non-Catholic or was an Eastern Rite Catholic.
• The Congregation of Rites is divided into two departments. One handles all matters that refer to liturgical worship and popular devotions and studies new liturgical trends. The existing Council on Liturgical Reform, however, remains in office until it has completed all changes decreed by the Ecumenical Council.
The congregation's other section deals with beatification and canonisation causes. It is divided into three sub-sections to speed up work, which now sometimes takes centuries.
• The Congregation of the Council is renamed "Congregation for the Clergy." One of its subdivisions looks after the spiritual and cultural life of priests, sets up special courses and libraries for the clergy and sees that "presbyteral councils" are set up in each diocese to advise bishops. A second office lays down rules about the teaching of catechism.
This office is also responsible for approving national catechism books worked out by individual hierarchies. Some of these, such as the new Dutch catechism, are highly controversial.
A third office looks after all temporal property of the Church (other than Vatican property), such as pious foundations, churches, artistic monuments, real estate and donations. It also provides financial support for the clergy, and for the first time it will try to provide old age pensions and social security. After the priest's death, his pension goes to his parents, or to sisters if they
handle his household.
• The Congregation for Religious is renamed "Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes." A special section is added to institutes, such as the powerful Opus Dei, which have taken on special importance in recent times.
• The Secretariats for Promoting Christian Unity, for Non-Christians and for NonBelievers, all established in recent years, are retained and upgraded. Their heads are members of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and they have a say in the matters of some other congregations.
Separate offices in the Christian Unity Secretariat will handle relations with Protestant and Eastern Churches.
• The Congregation of Seminaries and Universities is renamed "Congregation for Catholic Education" and becomes responsible for all Catholic schools from parish schools upward, for academies and for Church libraries except the Vatican Library.
• The Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith retains its ancient name, but will also be known as the "Congregation for the Evangelisation of the Nations." It remains responsible for all missionary work and for problems of mission lands.
• Both the Council for the Laity and the "Peace and Justice" Commission, set up experimentally last January, are retained on the same basis.
• Also retained, with some change in their powers, are the Sacred Penitentiary, the Apostolic Chancery and the Administration of the Property of the Holy See.
The Roman Rota, which hears and decides all juridical cases except cuusae majores, assumes competency over all cases of nullity of marriage, whether dealing with marriages between Catholics of the Latin or Eastern rites, mixed marriages, or marriages between non-Catholics, whether baptised or not.
POPE'S TRAVELS
The Prefecture of the Apostolic Palace has been reformed so deeply that it is described as a new organism. It results from the fusion of the office of major domo, of the office maestro di camera and of the
Ceremonial Congregation, which has been suppressed.
This new office of the Apostolic Palace will supervise the maintenance of the Pope's residences, will handle papal audiences and will arrange pontifical ceremonies within the framework of recently decreed liturgical norms.
Given the Pope's penchant for pilgrimage-making, its most important function may turn out to be the making of arrangements for his pilgrimages.
Various offices for the writing of Latin documents have been combined. TheDatary Apostolic, the Secretariat of Briefs for Princes and the Secretariat for Latin Letters have disappeared, while an office for writing Latin letters remains part of the Secretariat of State. There is also a minor office for Latin letters of lesser importance, such as papal honours.
Delegate to South Africa named
ARCHBISHOP JOHN GORDON, Apostolic Delegate in Northern Africa since 1965, has been appointed by Pope Paul as Apostolic ProNuncio to Lesotho and Apostolic Delegate in Southern Africa.