4. Right
from the most ancient times, as a matter of fact, if we may sketch out a few
lines of history, the Roman Pontiffs, in the course of their service directed
to the welfare of the whole Church, have engaged the help of institutions or
individual men selected from that Church of Rome which our predecessor
Gregory the Great has called the Church of the Blessed Apostle Peter.
At first they used the services of priests or deacons belonging to the
Church of Rome to function as legates, to be sent on various missions, or to
represent the bishops of Rome at ecumenical councils.
When matters of particular importance were to be dealt with, the bishops of
Rome called on the help of Roman synods or councils to which they summoned
bishops working in the ecclesiastical province of Rome. These councils not only
dealt with questions pertaining to doctrine and the magisterium, but also
functioned like tribunals, judging cases of bishops referred to the Roman
Pontiff.
From the time when the cardinals began to take on a special importance in
the Roman Church, especially in the election of the Pope — a function reserved
to them from 1059 —, the Roman Pontiffs made more and more use of their
services, with the result that the Roman synods and councils gradually lost
their importance until they ceased entirely.
So it came about that, especially after the thirteenth century, the Supreme
Pontiff carried out all the business of the Church together with the cardinals
gathered in consistory. Thus temporary instruments, the councils or synods of
Rome, were replaced by another instrument, a permanent one, always available to
the Pope.
It was our predecessor Sixtus V who gave the Roman Curia its formal
organization through the above-quoted Apostolic Constitution Immensa
æterni Dei, on 22 January 1588, the 1587th year from the
Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He set up fifteen dicasteries, so that
the single College of Cardinals would be replaced by several colleges
consisting of certain cardinals whose authority would be confined to a clearly
defined field and to a definite subject matter. In this way, the Supreme Pontiffs
could enjoy maximum benefit from these collegial counsels. Consequently, the
consistory’s own original role and importance were greatly diminished.
As the centuries passed and historical outlooks and world conditions were
transformed, certain changes and refinements were brought in, especially when
the commissions of cardinals were set up in the nineteenth century to give the
Pope assistance beyond that of the other dicasteries of the Roman Curia. Then
on 29 June 1908, our predecessor Saint Pius X promulgated the Apostolic
Constitution Sapienti consilio, in which, referring to the plan of
collecting the laws of the Church into a Code of Canon Law, he wrote:
"It has seemed most fitting to start from the Roman Curia so that,
structured in a suitable way that everyone can understand, the Curia may more
easily and effectively lend its help to the Roman Pontiff and the Church."
Here are the principal effects of that reform: the Sacred Roman Rota, which had
ceased to function in 1870, was reestablished to deal with judicial cases,
while the Congregations lost their judicial competence and became purely
administrative organs. The principle was also established whereby the
Congregations would enjoy their own rights, deferring to nobody else, so that
each individual matter was to be dealt with by its own dicastery, and not by
several at the same time.
This reform by Pius X, later confirmed and completed in the Code of Canon
Law promulgated in 1917 by our predecessor Benedict XV, remained
practically unchanged until 1967, not long after the Second Vatican Council in
which the Church delved more deeply into the mystery of its own being and
gained a more lively vision of its mission.
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