28. Furthermore, our same predecessor by a letter
of 23rd February 1596 conceded that the election of those
who had been duly nominated as suffragan bishops of the Ruthenians should be
confirmed by the metropolitan, as was proposed in the pact of reconciliation,
and in accordance with the ancient discipline of the Eastern Church. Others of
our predecessors permitted the metropolitans to establish schools in any part
of Russia and freely and lawfully to commit them to any directors and teachers
they pleased. They also decreed that the Ruthenians should not be at a
disadvantage compared with the rest of Catholics as regards the distribution of
spiritual favors; they wished them to share with the rest of the faithful in
all grants of indulgences, on condition that they should also fulfill the necessary
conditions. Paul V extended to all those who attended the schools established
by the metropolitans the special spiritual privileges granted by the Roman
pontiffs to members of the sodalities of the Blessed Virgin established in the
churches of the Society of Jesus; and Urban VIII granted to all who made
retreats with the Basilian monks the same indulgences as had been bestowed on
the clerks regular of the Society of Jesus.
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