DECREE ON THE MEDIA OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS INTER MIRIFICA SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON DECEMBER 4, 1963
INTRODUCTION 1. Among the wonderful technological discoveries which men of talent, especially in the present era, have made with God’s help, the Church welcomes and promotes with special interest those which have a most direct relation to men’s minds and which have uncovered new avenues of communicating most readily news, views and teachings of every […]
DECREE ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF THE EASTERN RITE ORIENTALIUM ECCLESIARUM SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964
PREAMBLE 1. The Catholic Church holds in high esteem the institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions and the established standards of the Christian life of the Eastern Churches, for in them, distinguished as they are for their venerable antiquity, there remains conspicuous the tradition that has been handed down from the Apostles through the Fathers (1) […]
DECREE ON ECUMENISM UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO
INTRODUCTION 1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but […]
DECREE CONCERNING THE PASTORAL OFFICE OF BISHOPS IN THE CHURCH CHRISTUS DOMINUS PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS, POPE PAUL VI ON OCTOBER 28, 1965
PREFACE 1. Christ the Lord, Son of the living God, came that He might save His people from their sins(1) and that all men might be sanctified. Just as He Himself was sent by the Father, so He also sent His Apostles.(2) Therefore, He sanctified them, conferring on them the Holy Spirit, so that they […]
DECREE ON THE ADAPTATION AND RENEWAL OF RELIGIOUS LIFE PERFECTAE CARITATIS PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON OCTOBER 28, 1965
1. The sacred synod has already shown in the constitution on the Church that the pursuit of perfect charity through the evangelical counsels draws its origin from the doctrine and example of the Divine Master and reveals itself as a splendid sign of the heavenly kingdom. Now it intends to treat of the life and […]
DECREE ON PRIESTLY TRAINING OPTATAM TOTIUS PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON OCTOBER 28, 1965
Animated by the spirit of Christ, this sacred synod is fully aware that the desired renewal of the whole Church depends to a great extent on the ministry of its priests. It proclaims the extreme importance of priestly training and lays down certain basic principles by which those regulations may be strengthened which long use […]
DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS, POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965
INTRODUCTION 1. To intensify the apostolic activity of the people of God,(1) the most holy synod earnestly addresses itself to the laity, whose proper and indispensable role in the mission of the Church has already been dealt with in other documents.(2) The apostolate of the laity derives from their Christian vocation and the Church can […]
DECREE ON THE MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PRIESTS PRESBYTERORUM ORDINIS PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS, POPE PAUL VI ON DECEMBER 7, 1965
PREFACE 1. The excellence of the order of priests in the Church has already been recalled to the minds of all by this sacred synod.(1) Since, however, in the renewal of Christ’s Church tasks of the greatest importance and of ever increasing difficulty are being given to this order, it was deemed most useful to […]
DECREE AD GENTES ON THE MISSION ACTIVITY OF THE CHURCH
Preface 1. Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them “a universal sacrament of salvation,”(1) the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all men. The Apostles themselves, on whom the […]
DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DIGNITATIS HUMANAE ON THE RIGHT OF THE PERSON AND OF COMMUNITIES TO SOCIAL AND CIVIL FREEDOM IN MATTERS RELIGIOUS PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON DECEMBER 7, 1965
1. A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man,(1) and the demand is increasingly made that men should act on their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not driven by coercion but motivated by a sense […]