Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
DECREE ON THE PASTORAL OFFICE OF BISHOPS IN THE CHURCH -Christus Dominus
Christus Dominus - 28 October 1965
INTRODUCTION
1. Christ the Lord, the Son of the living God, came to redeem his people from
their sins[1] that all mankind might be sanctified. Having been sent by the
Father, he in turn sent his apostles[2] whom he sanctified by conferring on them
the Holy Spirit so that they also might glorify the Father on earth and procure
the salvation of men "for the building up of the Body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12)
which is the Church.
2. In this Church of Christ the Roman Pontiff, as the successor of Peter, to
whom Christ entrusted the care of his sheep and his lambs, has been granted by
God supreme, full, immediate and universal power in the care of souls. As pastor
of all the faithful his mission is to promote the common good of the universal
Church and the particular good of all the churches. He is therefore endowed with
the primacy of ordinary power over all the churches.
The bishops also have been designated by the Holy Spirit to take the place of
the apostles as pastors of souls[3] and together with the Supreme Pontiff and
subject to his authority, they are commissioned to perpetuate the work of
Christ, the eternal Pastor.[4] For Christ commanded the apostles and their
successor and gave them the power to teach all peoples, to sanctify men in truth
and to give them spiritual nourishment. By virtue, therefore, of the Holy Spirit
who
____________________________________________________________________ 1. Cf. Mt.
1:21. 2. Cf. Jn. 20:21. 3. Cf. VAT. 1, fourth session, part 1 of Dogm. Const. on
the Church of Christ, ch. 3, _Denz._ 1828 (306). 4. Cf. VAT. I, fourth session,
Introd. to Dogm. Const. on the Church of Christ: _Denz._ 1821 (3050).
has been given to them, bishops have been constituted true and authentic tic
teachers of the faith and have been made pontiffs and pastors.[5]
3. United in one college or body for the instruction and direction of the
universal Church, the bishops, sharing in the solicitude of all the churches,
exercise this their episcopal function , which they have received by virtue of
their episcopal consecration [6] in communion with the Supreme Pontiff and
subject to his authority. they exercise this function individually as regards
that portion of the Lord's flock which has been entrusted to each one of them,
each bishop having responsibility for the particular church assigned to him. On
occasion a number of bishops will cooperate to provide for the common needs of
their churches.
Accordingly the sacred Synod, having regard to the conditions of human society
which have brought about a new order of things, has promulgated the following
decrees in order to determine more exactly the pastoral functions of bishops.[7]
CHAPTER I
THE BISHOPS IN THEIR RELATION TO THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
I. THE ROLE OF THE BISHOPS IN THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
4. The bishops, by virtue of their sacramental consecration and their
hierarchical communion with the head of the college and its other members, are
constituted members of the episcopal body.[8] "The order of bishops is the
successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors,
and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the
Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority
over the universal Church, but this power cannot be exercised without the
agreement of the Roman Pontiff."[9] This authority "is exercised in a solemn way
in an ecumenical council."[10] Accordingly the sacred Synod decrees that all
bishops who are members of the episcopal college have the right to _
___________________________________________________________________ 5. Cf. VAT
II, Dogm. Const. on the Church, ch. 3, nn. 21, 24, 25: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 24-25,
29-31. 6. Cf. VAT. II, Dogm. Const. on the Church, ch. 3, n. 21: AAS 57 (1965)
pp. 24-25. 7. Cf. John XXIII, apost. const. _Humanae Salutis_, Dec. 25, 1961:
AAS 54 (1962) p. 6. 8. Cf. VAT. II, Dogm. Const on the Church, ch. 3, n. 22: AAS
57 (1965) pp. 25-27. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid.
take part in an ecumenical council. "This same collegiate power can be exercised
in union with the Pope by the bishops whilst living in different parts of the
world, provided the head of the college summon them to collegiate action, or at
least approve or freely admit the corporate action of the unassembled bishops,
so that a truly collegiate action may result."[11]
5. Bishops chosen from different parts of the world in a manner and according to
a system determined or to be determined by the Roman Pontiff will render to the
Supreme Pastor a more effective auxiliary service in a council which shall be
known by the special name of Synod of Bishops.[12] This council, as it will be
representative of the whole Catholic episcopate, will bear testimony to the
participation of all the bishops in hierarchical communion in the care of the
universal Church.[13]
6. Bishops, as legitimate successors of the apostles and members of the
episcopal college, should appreciate that they are closely united to each other
and should be solicitous for all the churches. By divine institution and by
virtue of their apostolic office, all of them jointly are responsible for the
Church.[14]
They should be especially solicitous for those parts of the world in which the
word of God has not yet been proclaimed or in which, especially on account of
the scarcity of priests, the faithful are in danger of falling away from the
obligations of the Christian life or even of losing the faith itself. Bishops
should, therefore, do their utmost to ensure that the activities of
evangelization and the apostolate are zealously supported and promoted by the
faithful. It should, moreover, be their special care that suitable priests, as
well as lay and religious auxiliaries, be trained for those missions and regions
suffering from a lack of clergy. They should arrange also, as far as it is
possible, that some of their priests should go to these missions or dioceses to
exercise the sacred ministry there, either permanently or for a fixed period.
Furthermore, bishops should bear it in mind that in the expenditure of
ecclesiastical resources they must take into account the needs not only of their
own dioceses but of other individual _
___________________________________________________________________ 11. Ibid.
12. Cf. Paul VI, motu proprio _Apostolica Solicitudo_, 15 Sept. 1965: AAS 57
(1965) pp. 775-780. 13. Cf. VAT. II, Dogm. Const. on the Church, ch. 3, n. 23:
AAS 57 (1965) pp. 27-28. 14. Cf. Pius XII, encycl. letter _Fidei Donum_, 21 Apr.
1957: AAS 49 (1957) p. 27. Cf. also Benedict XV, apost. letter _Maximum Illud_,
30 Nov. 1919: AAS 11 (1919) p. 440; Pius XI, encycl. letter _Rerum Ecclesiae_,
28 Feb. 1926: AAs 18 (1926) pp. 68 ff.
churches, since they too form part of the one Church of Christ. Let it be their
care also to give help according to their resources when other dioceses or
regions are afflicted by disaster. (See D. _46_, 1-5.)
7. Above all, they should extend their brotherly care to those bishops who are
harassed by calumny and hardship for the name of Christ, who are detained in
prison or prevented from exercising their ministry. They should manifest an
active fraternal interest in them so that their sufferings may be lessened and
alleviated by the prayers and works of their brethren.
II. BISHOPS AND THE APOSTOLIC SEE
8.(a) Bishops, as the successors of the apostles, enjoy as of right in the
dioceses assigned to them all ordinary, special and immediate power which is
necessary for the exercise of their pastoral office, but always without
prejudice to the power which the Roman Pontiff possesses, by virtue of his
office, of reserving certain matters to himself or to some other authority.
(b) Individual diocesan bishops have the power to dispense from the general law
of the Church in particular cases those faithful over whom they normally
exercise authority. It must, however, be to their spiritual benefit and may not
cover a matter which has been specially reversed by the supreme authority of the
Church.
9. In exercising his supreme, full and immediate authority over the universal
Church the Roman Pontiff employs the various departments of the Roman Curia,
which act in his name and by his authority for the good of the churches and in
the service of the sacred pastors. It is the earnest desire of the Fathers of
the sacred Council that these departments, which have indeed rendered excellent
service to the Roman Pontiff and to the pastors of the Church, should be
reorganized and modernized, should be more in keeping with different regions and
rites, especially in regard to the number, their names, their competence, their
procedures ...
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