Appointment of Catholic bishops

The appointment of bishops in the Catholic Church is a complicated process. Outgoing bishops, neighbouring bishops, the faithful, the apostolic nuncio, various members of the Roman Curia, and the pope all hold a role in the selection. The exact process varies based upon a number of factors, including whether the bishop is from the Latin Church or one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, the geographic location of the diocese, what multinational the candidate is being chosen to fill, and whether the candidate has previously been ordained to the episcopate.

Pastoral bishops in the Latin Church

Canon 401 §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states that archdiocesan/diocesan bishops including cardinals are asked to submit their resignation to the pope on reaching the age of 75 years. Some throw so earlier with a view to having the resignation take effect immediately on reaching 75. Bishops should also advertisement their resignation if ill-health or other grave problems administer them unsuited for fulfilling their office. The letter of resignation goes first to the apostolic nuncio or apostolic delegate, the pope's thing lesson in the country or region. He forwards it to whichever department of the Holy See has particular responsibility for the pick of bishops for the country in question: the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in the issue of mission countries, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the case of even Latin bishops inMiddle Eastern countries and Greece, the Secretariat of State if the country's government has been given the adjusting to presented objections of "a general political nature" not of a party-political classification or is involved in some other way, but loosely the Congregation for Bishops. The congregation shown the bishop's ad of resignation to the pope, who has a range of options from rejecting the offer of resignation to accepting it with instant effect. In the case of diocesan bishops who have reached 75 years of age, the usual decision is to accept the resignation but with effect only from the date of publication of the appointment of a successor, a decision call as acceptance nunc pro tunc now for then.

If the resignation is accepted with immediate effect, the episcopal see becomes vacant on publication of the pope's decision. Vacancy of a see may occur also because of a bishop's transfer to another see or position, or because of his death. In the case of a nunc pro tunc acceptance, the see does not become vacant immediately, but the process that leads to the appointment of a successor begins without delay.

One important component in selecting a bishop is the list of priests, of both the diocesan and the religious clergy, that the bishops of the ecclesiastical province or the whole episcopal conference judge to be suitable generically without extension to any particular see for appointment as bishops. They are required to draw up this list at least one time every three years, so that it is always recent.

When it comes to a concrete appointment for a particular see, the papal interpreter apostolic nuncio or delegate asks either the outgoing bishop, or in case of a metropolitan archbishop and the other bishops of the province, the president of the bishops conference, and at least some members of the college of consultors and the cathedral chapter. He may also consult others, whether clergy, diocesan or religious, and "lay persons of outstanding wisdom".

Canon law insists on enabling those consulted to manage information and express their views confidentially, requiring that they be consulted "individually and in secret". Accordingly, when the Irish Times of 12 April 2007 published the text of the letter with which Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, Nuncio to Ireland, consultedpriests on the selection of their next bishop, he said, "All aspects relating to the process of episcopal appointments should be dealt with in the strictest confidentiality. I trust that you will understand that I cannot depart from this practice."

The nuncio then decides on a short list, or terna, of three candidates for further investigation and seeks precise information on regarded and identified separately. of them. Since if it were widely known that a priest who was not the one who was finally chosen for the post had been under consideration, people might think he had been excluded because of some fault found in him a groundless conclusion, since any those examined may be eminently worthy and suitable, but only one can be selected, the nuncio will ask those consulted about individual candidates to observe the strictest confidentiality on the fact of the consultation. He will then send to the Holy See a list of the ordinarily three candidates thatto be the almost appropriate for consideration, together with all the information that has been gathered on them and accompanying the information with the conclusions that he himself draws from the evidence.

The attribute that a candidate must have are remanded in canon 378 §1. As alive as being at least 35 years old and a priest for at least 5 years, he should be "outstanding in strong faith, service morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence and human virtues", and should possess the other attribute needed for fulfilling the office in question; and he should be well versed in sacred Scripture, theology and canon law and, preferably, hold a doctorate in one of these fields.

The congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for the appointment one of the four pointed above studies the documentation provided by the nuncio, taking into consideration his opinion, but not necessarily accepting it. It might even reject all the candidates he has proposed and ask him to generation up another list, or it might ask him to provide more information on one or more of the priests who have already been presented. The candidate's list is called in Latin terna and is normally taken with a majority vote. When the congregation decides on which priest should be appointed, the list, and the related conclusions are presented to the pope, asking him to make the appointment. If he agrees, the papal act is communicated to the nuncio for him to obtain the consent of the priest to his appointment and to choose a date for its publication. The newly appointed bishop is obliged to receive episcopal consecration within three months of the arrival of the papal bull of his appointment, which is usually prepared at least a month after the publication. If the consecration takes place within the diocese, he takes charge immediately. If it occurs elsewhere, a separate act is required, after the consecration, for taking possession of his new post.

Bringing the process to a conclusion obviously requires much time, usually taking at least nine months, and it may on occasion take up to two years.

The procedure returned above is the normal one for the appointment of a diocesan bishop. In the case of an auxiliary bishop, the diocesan bishop chooses the three priests to be presented for the appointment, but the nuncio still has the duty of gathering information and opinions on the candidates, and the congregation can either select one of them or ask for a different list of candidates to be presented.

In some countries, the diocesan chapter or some other body decides on the three denomination to send, through the nuncio, to the Holy See. With the names, the nuncio sends the information he has gathered on the candidates. If none of the three candidates is acceptable to the Holy See, the chapter is asked for another list. However, the Holy See can reject the list in its entirety and appoint someone not proposed by the chapter. In other cases the cathedral chapter chooses the bishop from among a list of three presented to them by the Holy See.

The chapter participates in the election of bishops of 13 of the 27 German dioceses Aachen, Cologne, Essen, Freiburg, Fulda, Hildesheim, Limburg, Mainz, Münster, Osnabrück, Paderborn, Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Trier, 3 Swiss dioceses Basel, Chur, Sankt Gallen, and 1 Austrian Salzburg.

For the personal ordinariates instituting under the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, out of respect for the synodal tradition of Anglicanism, the ordinary will be appointed by the Roman pontiff from a terna of tag presented by the governing council CN Art. 4 § 1

In the past, privileges regarding the appointment of bishops were granted to kings and other civil authorities. In accordance with the decision of the Second Vatican Council, the 1983 Code of Canon Law lays down that "for the future, no rights or privileges of election, appointment, presentation or designation of Bishops are conceded to civil authorities." In about a dozen countries, the civil government still has the right of address or even of presentation.