Religion Helps Migrants: Roman Catholic Church and the Migrant Crisis During the Pontificate of Pope Francis

This essay evaluates the standpoint that the Roman Catholic Church has adopted regarding the European migrant crisis. Some countries feel a severe outfl ow of people due to mass labor migration; others must deal with the challenges as transit states, and others – enormous challenges generated by the infl ux of economic immigrants and refugees. The most popular theories of migration and public policies very often ignore the ethical component of migration. One of the entities that constantly emphasizes the humanitarian aspect of migration is the Holy See. Popes, beginning with Leo XIII, have repeatedly raised the issue of rights to a dignifi ed life and decent work, and if it is necessary also to migrate in search of a safe shelter and a better life. Pope Francis, like his predecessors, referring to the problem of migration, puts people fi rst. He emphasizes that all migration streams consist of individuals who deserve respect and care because we see in them the face of God. This paper concludes that the Church remains the signifi cant international body impartial amidst the growing European schism on the migrant issue.

The Holy See’s Contemporary Foreign Policy: Origins, Methods, Instruments

In this essay, the author made an attempt to study the origins, functions and vectors of papal diplomacy, focusing on its transformation in the conditions of the modern political system, to analyze the main social principles on which the foreign policy of the Holy See is based; to fi nd out what methods are used by the state to promote Christian moral values in global politics. Besides, studying numerous examples of mediation policy of the Vatican in international aff airs, the author has investigated the methods by which the theocratic monarchy, lacking signifi cant territorial and military resources, plays a signifi cant role in contemporary international relations. Papal diplomacy, as one of the fi rst in the world, has successfully adapted to the processes taking place in world politics. Based on the basic principles stemming from the Code of Canon Law and the Social Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the Holy See participates in most of the international negotiation platforms where topical issues of world politics are raised.

Life of the Mukachevo Bishop Stefan (Simeon) Olsavsky and Metropolitan’s Athanasius Szeptycki charter on his consecration in 1735 (publication of the act)

The paper is devoted to investigating the life and documental heritage of the Mukachevo bishop Stefan (Simeon) Olsavsky (c. 1695 – 1737), especially to publication a charter of his bishopric consecration by the Kyivan Metropolitan Athanasius Szeptycki (1686 – 1746) in Lviv St. Jorge Cathedral on 7 December 1735. The author analyses documental acts regarding the history of publishing separate documents and analyses a set of unpublished sources. On this basis, the historian reconstructs the bishop’s biography, his relations with contemporaries, and his position on eparchial development and administration questions. This research eliminates a lack of information about details of Stefan (Simeon) Olsavsky’s bishopric consecration. Moreover, the paper opposes a tendency to construe his period as some insignificant and undistinguished phase of the local eparchial history. Volodymyr Moroz explains terminological differences in interpreting the Mukachevo eparchy as the real autonomous “diocese” and a “district”, i. e., ritual vicariate of the Roman-Catholic Diocese of Eger in the time of Stefan (Simeon) Olsavsky. The researcher demonstrates that bishop Olsavsky’s decision to receive consecration from the Kyivan Metropolitan was not an accident but a result of his (and his predecessors) aspiring to avoid intrusive domination of the Eger bishops over the Eparchy of Mukachevo. This consecration was the following example of the Mukachevo eparchy’s gravity to union with the Kyivan Metropolitanate in a set of similar events. Significantly, the Metropolitan Athanasius Szeptycki fixed in the charter that Stefan (Simeon) Olsavsky promised his submission to the Holy See, the Pope personally, and the “Our humility” – the Metropolitan of Kyiv. Undoubtedly, the publication of this charter helps to reveal and explain new pages of the Church’s history. It could strengthen interest in studying relations between the Eparchy of Mukachevo and the Kyivan Metropolitanate.

The 2008 Agreement Between the Holy See and Brazil on the Juridical Statute of the Catholic Church in Brazil in the Eyes of the Brazilian Superior Courts

In 2008, Brazil and the Holy See entered into an Agreement on the Juridical Statute of the Catholic Church and its Ecclesiastical Institutions in Brazil (the “Agreement”). The Agreement was approved by the Brazilian Congress by Legislative Decree 698 on October 7, 2009 and entered into force in the international sphere on December 10, 2009. On February 11, 2010, by Presidential Decree 7.107, it entered into force in the domestic sphere. The purpose of this essay is assessing the consistency of the Agreement with the State laicity enshrined in the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. The hypothesis is the validity of the Agreement due to the special status of the Holy See in International Law. The methodology of study consisted in describing the historical background of the relationship between State and Church in Brazil as a preamble for surveying cases which have dealt with the 2008 Agreement and the corresponding decisions at the Brazilian Superior Courts. As a result, we have found out that the Brazilian Judiciary sustained the compatibility of the Agreement with the laicity of the Brazilian State enshrined in its 1988 Constitution in two leading cases that addressed, respectively, the possibility of confirmation, by Brazilian Courts, of ecclesiastical declarations of nullity issued by marriage tribunals under the Code of Cannon Law, and the possibility of confessional classes in public schools. Both possibilities were eventually upheld by Brazilian Superior Courts in landmark rulings on the status of the Holy See in the Brazilian practice of international law.

The Novelty of Bohuslav Balbín’s Biographies about Saint John of Nepomuk and their Role in Proving His Veneration

I am focusing on the attributes of three biographies written about Saint John of Nepomuk by Bohuslav Balbín (1621–1688) Czech Jesuit monk and historian. I am searching for the answer for the question that how can the features of ecclesiastic discipline of cult of saints after the council of Trient and the question of public respect before the canonization be caught out in these texts.This biographies of Saint John of Nepomuk has been written to be more than simple hagiographies. Due to their complexity and structural features they have become suitable to enter into a contoversy with Pope Urban VIII’s Coelestis Hierusalem decree, in which he firmly forbid the veneration of individuals not approved by the Holy See. Balbín wanted to prove it that the veneration to Saint John of Nepomuk has been existing continuously since his death, and its manifestations characterize the contemporary communities as well, finally, this devotion becomes ever more intensive therefore it is not inconsistent with the Pope Urban VIII’s restrictionary arrangements.

The Ratification of the 1932 Accord Relating to the Interpretation of Section 9 of the Concordat Concluded between the Holy See and the Romanian Government on 10 May 1927

Following the Treaty of Trianon, the situation of the Catholic Church operating on the territory of the Kingdom of Romania was regularized within a concordat agreement concluded in 1927 between the Romanian Government and the Holy See as interested parties. Since due to the compromises Section 9 of the Concordat, addressing the legal situation of the church, became meaningful ─ a development that parties opposing the Concordat exploited –, the contracting parties agreed on a detailed explanation under an accord drafted in the early 1930s. Our study presents the thriller-like antecedents and aftermath of the Accord, signed on 30 May 1932 between the contracting parties, relating to the interpretation of Section 9 of the Concordat concluded between the Holy See and the Romanian Government on 10 May 1927. The successive, short-lived Romanian governments could not give effect to the agreement due to the nationalist propaganda heavily present in the media. Abuses arising from the various interpretations eventually led to the appearance of the Accord in the form a decree-law on 2 May 1940. Keywords: concordat, accord, Holy See, Romanian Government, Roman Catholic Status of Transylvania

Biritualism in the Practice of the Czech Church

Both codes of canon law state the duty of bishops to care for all believers in their territory. This applies not only to the faithful of their Church, but also to the faithful of another Church sui iuris (in the case of the Czech Republic, especially the Greek Catholic Church). For pastoral help as well as support and revival of their rite, it can be in the field of liturgical help, where the priest of one ceremony receives from the Holy See the so-called faculty of biritualism. The article describes the situation in the Czech Republic, moreover complicated by the lack of priests of both ceremonies and the fact that in times of imprisonment before 1989 there were secret ordinations of married men with the Faculty of Biritualism. After the situation was relaxed, these priests were involved in the life of the Church mainly within the Greek Catholic exarchate.

Selected Doctrinal Arguments against the Admission of Persons of Homosexual Orientation to the Sacrament of Holy Orders

The problem addressed in this article is what doctrinal arguments are behind the current decision of the Holy See not to admit men with a deep-seated homosexual orientation to the sacrament of Holy Orders. The problem may be solved in three stages: by showing selected contents of the documents of the Holy See in the 20th and 21st centuries, by presenting the doctrinal themes contained therein and by attempting to evaluate their reception in the light of current challenges. The author invokes the documents of the Holy See and the statements of the popes.

Italy

The history of religion in Italy reveals both a continuing Catholic presence and growing religious diversity. This chapter traces this history from medieval times, through early modern, pre-unification Italy, to the struggle for unity, the forcible end of the Pontifical States, and the problematic coexistence of the Holy See, the Catholic Church, and the Kingdom of Italy after 1861. The later sections deal with the appeasement of the Holy See under fascist rule and the Lateran Pacts of 1929; then the transition from fascism to democracy and from monarchy to republic, through the referendum of 1946 and the Constitution of 1948. Central to this evolution is the explicit acknowledgment that Italy is no longer a Catholic state; conversely laicità is identified as the supreme constitutional principle. Since 1989, cultural Christianity and the consolidation of various forms of Catholic preference are learning to coexist with an increasingly multi-religious population.