15. It is
proper here to remember the churches which in later times different popes
entrusted to Greeks, Maronites, Armenians, Copts, and Melchites in Rome.
These still exist, with each group performing the holy ceremonies in
accordance with its own rite. It can also be recalled that Clement VIII (in
his constitution 34, sect. 7 of Veteris Bullarii) established a
Greek bishop in Rome to ordain, according to the Greek rite, Italo-Greeks who
lived in Latin dioceses. Another Greek bishop was established in the Diocese
of Bisiniana by Our immediate predecessor Clement XII, and his constitution Pastoralis,
to ordain Italo-Greeks and spare those who lived far from Rome the long
journey to obtain ordination at the hands of the Greek Bishop of Rome.
Catholic bishops of the Maronites, Copts, and Melchites who from time to time
live in Rome are not denied the faculty of ordaining men of their own nation
according to their own rite, provided suitable candidates are found. Whenever
a dispute arises about the practice of the Orientals or the Italo-Greeks, the
Apostolic See makes every effort to ensure that they correct what clearly
needs correction, but states at once that it desires the Oriental rite to
remain untouched and unshaken in all other respects. It also proclaims that
laws affecting Italo-Greeks who live among us and are subject to the
jurisdiction of Latin bishops should be understood to affect only these and
should not in any way be extended to the Oriental Greeks who live far from us
and are subject to their own Greek Catholic bishops.
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