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ECCLESIA IN URBE

                                                 GIOVANNI PAOLO VESCOVO
                                                   SERVO DEI SERVI DI DIO
                                                    A PERPETUA MEMORIA

COSTITUZIONE APOSTOLICA

ECCLESIA IN URBE*

CIRCA IL NUOVO ORDINAMENTO
DEL VICARIATO DI ROMA

1. La Chiesa che è in Roma è chiamata a svolgere un compito del tutto singolare: essa, afferma il Libro del Sinodo, è « la prima nella grande famiglia della Chiesa, nella famiglia delle Diocesi sorelle » e « partecipa alla sollecitudine universale del suo Vescovo: è per se stessa aperta e riferita in maniera singolare all'universalità dell'unica Chiesa; in tal modo deve vivere il suo stesso essere Chiesa particolare ».(1) Infatti in Roma dagli Apostoli Pietro e Paolo è stata fondata e costituita quella Chiesa « con la quale, in ragione della sua autorità superiore, deve accordarsi ogni Chiesa, cioè i fedeli di tutto il mondo, poiché in essa è stata conservata la tradizione apostolica attraverso i suoi capi »: (2) ad essa guardano tutte le altre Chiese, come a colei « che presiede alla carità ».(3)

UNIVERSI DOMINICI GREGIS

JOHN PAUL II
SUPREME PONTIFF
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
UNIVERSI DOMINICI GREGIS
ON THE VACANCY
OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE
AND THE ELECTION
OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF

JOHN PAUL, BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
FOR PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE

The Shepherd of the Lord's whole flock is the Bishop of the Church of Rome, where the Blessed Apostle Peter, by sovereign disposition of divine Providence, offered to Christ the supreme witness of martyrdom by the shedding of his blood. It is therefore understandable that the lawful apostolic succession in this See, with which "because of its great pre-eminence every Church must agree",1 has always been the object of particular attention.

FIDEI DEPOSITUM

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
FIDEI DEPOSITUM
ON THE PUBLICATION OF THE
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
PREPARED FOLLOWING THE
SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

To my Venerable Brothers the Cardinals,
to the Archbishops,
Bishops,
Priests,
Deacons and all the People of God

JOHN PAUL II, BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
FOR EVERLASTING MEMORY

INTRODUCTION

Guarding the deposit of faith is the mission which the Lord has entrusted to his Church and which she fulfils in every age. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which was opened 30 years ago by my predecessor Pope John XXIII, of happy memory, had as its intention and purpose to highlight the Church's apostolic and pastoral mission, and by making the truth of the Gospel shine forth, to lead all people to seek and receive Christ's love which surpasses all knowledge (cf. Eph 3:19).

Ex Corde Ecclesiae

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
ON CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES

INTRODUCTION

BORN FROM THE HEART of the Church, a Catholic University is located in that course of tradition which may be traced back to the very origin of the University as an institution. It has always been recognized as an incomparable centre of creativity and dissemination of knowledge for the good of humanity. By vocation, the Universitas magistrorum et scholarium is dedicated to research, to teaching and to the education of students who freely associate with their teachers in a common love of knowledge(1). With every other University it shares that gaudium de veritate, so precious to Saint Augustine, which is that joy of searching for, discovering and communicating truth(2) in every field of knowledge. A Catholic University's privileged task is "to unite existentially by intellectual effort two orders of reality that too frequently tend to be placed in opposition as though they were antithetical: the search for truth, and the certainty of already knowing the fount of truth"(3).

New juridical order of the Basilica of Saint Nicholaus of Bari

IOANNES PAULUS EPISCOPUS
SERVUS SERVORUM DEI
AD PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM

CONSTITUTIO APOSTOLICA

NOVA CANONICA ORDINATIO NICOLAITANAE BARENSI
BASILICAE DATUR, IX EXPLETO SAECULO A TRANSLATIONE
RELIQUIARUM SANCTI NICOLAI, EPISCOPI MYRENSIS*

A seguito delle celebrazioni del IX centenario della Traslazione delle reliquie di San Nicola da Myra a Bari (1087-1987) la Sede Apostolica — considerati i mutamenti legati alle direttive del Concilio Vaticano II e le nuove prospettive di ordine pastorale della Basilica del Santo — ha deciso di dare ancor maggiore impulso alla vita dell'insigne Tempio, in parte confermando, e in parte sviluppando le linee dettate nelle due precedenti Bolle Sacris in aedibus del 5 agosto 1951 e Basilicae Nicolaitanae dell'11 febbraio 1968.

PASTOR BONUS

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
PASTOR BONUS

JOHN PAUL, BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
FOR AN EVERLASTING MEMORIAL

SPIRITUALI MILITUM CURAE

CONSTITUCIÓN APOSTÓLICA
SPIRITUALI MILITUM CURAE
DEL SUMO PONTÍFICE
JUAN PABLO II
SOBRE LA ASISTENCIA ESPIRITUAL
A LOS MILITARES

La asistencia espiritual de los militares es algo que la Iglesia ha querido cuidar siempre con extraordinaria solicitud según las diversas circunstancias. Ciertamente éste constituye un determinado grupo social y “por las condiciones peculiares de su vida”[1], bien porque formen parte de las Fuerzas Armadas de forma voluntaria y estable, bien porque sean llamados a ellas por ley para un tiempo determinado, necesitan una concreta y específica forma de asistencia espiritual; por esta necesidad, a lo largo de los tiempos, ha velado la sagrada jerarquía, y en particular los Romanos Pontífices, dada su función de servicio o “diaconía”[2], proveyendo del mejor modo en cada uno de los casos, con la jurisdicción más apropiada a las personas y a las circunstancias. Por ello se fueron creando en todas partes estructuras eclesiásticas para cada una de las naciones, presididas por un prelado dotado de las necesarias facultades[3].

SACRAE DISCIPLINAE LEGES

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
SACRAE DISCIPLINAE LEGES
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE PROMULGATION
OF THE NEW CODE OF CANON LAW

TO THE REVERED BROTHERS, CARDINALS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, PRIESTS,
DEACONS, AND TO THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD,
JOHN PAUL,
BISHOP SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD AS A PERPETUAL RECORD

During the course of the centuries, the Catholic Church has been accustomed to reform and renew the laws of canonical discipline so that, in constant fidelity to her divine Founder, they may be better adapted to the saving mission entrusted to her. Prompted by this same purpose and fulfilling at last the expectations of the whole Catholic world, I order today, January 25, 1983, the promulgation of the revised Code of Canon Law. In so doing, my thoughts go back to the same day of the year 1959, when my Predecessor of happy memory, John XXIII, announced for the first time his decision to reform the existing corpus of canonical legislation which had been promulgate on the feast of Pentecost in the year 1917.

DIVINUS PERFECTIONIS MAGISTER

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
DIVINUS PERFECTIONIS MAGISTER*

JOHN PAUL
BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
FOR POSTERITY

The Divine Teacher and Model of Perfection, Christ Jesus, who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit is proclaimed as "alone holy", loved the Church as His bride and delivered Himself up for her so that He might sanctify her and make her glorious in His sight. Thus He gave the commandment to all His disciples to imitate the perfection of the Father and He sends upon all the Holy Spirit, who might inspire them from within to love God with their whole heart and to love one another as He Himself loved them. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, the followers of Christ, called and justified in the Lord Jesus not according to their works but according to His own purpose and grace, through baptism sought in faith truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature, and thus truly holy.(1)

MAGNUM MATRIMONII SACRAMENTUM

CONSTITUCIÓN APOSTÓLICA
MAGNUM MATRIMONII SACRAMENTUM
DEL SUMO PONTÍFICE
JUAN PABLO II

RECONOCIMIENTO JURÍDICO
AL INSTITUTO DE ESTUDIOS SOBRE MATRIMONIO Y FAMILIA

1. La Iglesia se ha preocupado siempre con especial atención del gran sacramento del matrimonio (cf. Ef 5, 32), ya que “es consciente de que el matrimonio y la familia constituyen uno de los bienes más preciados de la humanidad” (Familiaris consortio, 1).