- Episcopal Conference
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In the Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Conference, Conference of Bishops, or National Conference of Bishops is an official assembly of all the bishops of a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities, but were first established as formal bodies by the Second Vatican Council (Christus Dominus, 38), and implemented by Pope Paul VI's 1966 motu proprio Ecclesiae sanctae.[1] The operation, authority, and responsibilities of episcopal conferences are currently governed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law (see especially canons 447-459).[2]
The nature of episcopal conferences, and their magisterial authority in particular, was subsequently clarified by Pope John Paul II's 1998 motu proprio Apostolos suos which stated that conferences of bishops do not participate in the teaching authority of the college of bishops although individual bishops do as they are members of the college of bishops which maintains unity with and under the Bishop of Rome, that is, the Pope. Consequently, a conference of bishops cannot make doctrinal declarations unless it receives two-thirds approval of the individual bishops of the conference and receives the subsequent recognitio, that is, recognition of approval, of the Holy See. Thus, while a conference of bishops can assist the individual bishops of the conference it cannot substitute for the authority which they individually possess.
Episcopal conferences are generally defined by geographic borders, with all the bishops in a given country belonging to the same conference — which might also include neighboring countries. Certain tasks and authority are assigned to episcopal conferences, particularly with regard to setting the liturgical norms for the Mass. Episcopal conferences receive their authority under universal law or particular mandates. In certain circumstances, as defined by canon law, the decisions of an episcopal conference are subject to ratification from the Holy See. Individual bishops do not relinquish their authority to the conference, and remain responsible for the governance of their respective diocese.
Contents
Episcopal Conferences
This list is based on that found in the Annuario Pontifico per l'anno 2010 (Città di Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010).
Africa
- Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé
- Episcopal Conference of Benin
- Conference of Bishops of Burkina Faso and of Niger
- Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi
- National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon
- Central African Episcopal Conference
- Episcopal Conference of Chad
- Episcopal Conference of the Congo
- Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Episcopal Conference of the Côte d'Ivoire
- Assembly of Catholic Hierarchs of Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Episcopal Conference of Gabon
- Inter-territorial Catholic Bishops' Conference of The Gambia and Sierra Leone
- Ghana Bishops' Conference
- Episcopal Conference of Guinea
- Episcopal Conference of Equatorial Guinea
- Kenyan Episcopal Conference
- Lesotho Catholic Bishops' Conference
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Liberia
- Episcopal Conference of Madagascar
- Episcopal Conference of Malawi
- Episcopal Conference of Mali
- Episcopal Conference of Mozambique
- Namibian Catholic Bishops' Conference
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria – see Roman Catholicism in Nigeria #Episcopal conference
- Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa
- Conference of Catholic Bishops of Rwanda
- Conference of Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea Bissau
- Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC)[3]
- Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference
- Tanzania Episcopal Conference
- Episcopal Conference of Togo
- Uganda Episcopal Conference
- Zambia Episcopal Conference
- Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference
Asia
- Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh
- Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI)
- Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean
- Bishops' Conference of Indonesia
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan
- Conference of Catholic Bishops of Kazakhstan
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea
- Episcopal Conference of Laos and Cambodia
- Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand[1]
- Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka
- Episcopal Conference of Vietnam[2]
Europe
- Episcopal Conference of Albania
- Austrian Bishops' Conference
- Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus
- Episcopal Conference of Belgium
- Bishops' Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Episcopal Conference of Bulgaria
- Croatian Bishops' Conference
- Czech Bishops' Conference
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
- Bishop's Conference of France (CEF)
- German Bishops' Conference
- Holy Synod of Catholic Bishops of Greece
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Hungary
- Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference
- Italian Episcopal Conference
- Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference
- Latvian Bishops' Conference
- Lithuanian Bishops' Conference[3]
- Maltese Episcopal Conference
- Bishops' Conference of the Netherlands
- Polish Episcopal Conference
- Portuguese Episcopal Conference
- Romanian Episcopal Conference
- Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Russian Federation
- International Bishops' Conference of Sts. Cyril and St. Methodius[4]
- Scandinavian Bishops' Conference
- Bishops' Conference of Scotland (BCOS)
- Conference of Slovak Bishops
- Slovenian Bishops' Conference
- Spanish Episcopal Conference
- Swiss Bishops Conference
- Episcopal Conference of Turkey
- Ukrainian Episcopal Conference
- Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia (defunct)
Oceania
- Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference
- New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference
- Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (C.E. PAC.)[5]
- Catholic Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands
North America
- Antilles Episcopal Conference
- Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
- Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica
- Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba
- Conference of the Dominican Episcopate
- Episcopal Conference of El Salvador
- Episcopal Conference of Guatemala
- Episcopal Conference of Haiti
- Episcopal Conference of Honduras
- Mexican Episcopal Conference
- Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua
- Episcopal Conference of Panama
- Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference (CEP)
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)[6]
South America
- Argentinian Episcopal Conference
- Bolivian Episcopal Conference
- National Conference of Bishops of Brazil
- Episcopal Conference of Chile
- Episcopal Conference of Colombia
- Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference
- Paraguayan Episcopal Conference
- Peruvian Episcopal Conference
- Episcopal Conference of Uruguay
- Venezuelan Episcopal Conference
Similar bodies
In addition to the episcopal conferences as defined by the Holy See, there are a number of other regional groupings of bishops:[7]
- Synods of Bishops of the Patriarchal and Major Archiepiscopal Churches and Assemblies of Hierarchs of Churches Sui Iuris
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- Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church
- Synod of the Chaldean Church
- Synod of the Catholic Coptic Church
- Synod of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church
- Synod of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church
- Synod of the Romanian Church
- Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church
- Synod of the Syro-Malabarese Church
- Synod of the Syro-Malankarese Church
- Council of the Ethiopian Church
- Council of the Ruthenian Church, U.S.A.
- Council of the Slovakian Church
- Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchy of Egypt
- Assembly of the Catholic Bishops of Iraq
- Assembly of the Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon
- Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchs of Syria
- Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land
- Iranian Episcopal Conference
- International Reunions of Episcopal Conferences
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- Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East
- Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar
- Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa
- Association of Episcopal Conferences of the Region of Central Africa
- Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa
- Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa
- Association of the Episcopal Conferences of Western Africa
- Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences
- Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania
- Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE)
- Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE)
- Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM)
- Episcopal Secretariate of Central America and Panama
See also
Footnotes
- ^ The Limits of the Papacy, p. 97, by Patrick Granfield, Crossroad, New York, 1987. ISBN 0-8245-0839-4
- ^ Pope John Paul II, Apostolos Suos, 5.
- ^ The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference includes the bishops of South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland.
- ^ The International Bishops' Conference of Sts. Cyril and St. Methodius includes the bishops of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Macedonia.
- ^ The Episcopal Conference of the Pacific is made up of the bishops of Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and three U.S. dependencies (U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Territory of American Samoa, and U.S. Territory of Guam). Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici (C.E. PAC.). GCatholic website. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
- ^ The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops includes the bishop of the U.S. Territory of the Virgin Islands, but not the bishops of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the three U.S. dependencies in the Pacific (U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Territory of American Samoa, and U.S. Territory of Guam).
- ^ Cf. Annuario Pontificio per l'anno 2010 pages 1101-06.
Further reading
- Sullivan, Francis. "The Teaching Authority of Episcopal Conferences", Theological Studies, v. 63, 2002, pp. 472–493.
External links
- List of all episcopal conferences by Giga-Catholic Information
- The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church by David M. Cheney
Categories:- Roman Catholic Church organisation
- Bishops conferences
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