Un débat toujours actuel: le statut théologique des conférences des évêques
Benoît MalvauxOne of the main items on the agenda of the coming Bishops' Synod (which deals with the episcopal ministry) concerns the theological status of the Bishops' Conferences. The motu proprio «Apostolos suos», essentially based on juridical considerations, has not definitely closed the theological debate raised at the Synod of 1986, which, while establishing the principle that doctrinal declarations emanating from a Bishops' Conference constitue an official and authentic document, has left open the questions of the link between coetus episcoporum and coetus Ecclesiarum, as well as the very status of the regrouping of particular Churches corresponding to the Bishops' Conferences… all questions on which there is no doctrinal unanimity and on which the coming Bishops' Synod will have to take a stand.