Loading…

Sacrae Disciplinae Leges is unavailable, but you can change that!

Apostolic constitutions are more juridical in nature than apostolic exhortations. They are formal papal decrees and carry the highest authority. Apostolic constitutions can deal with the structure of the Church, but also the liturgy, pastoral, or dogmatic concerns. Together with encyclicals, apostolic constitutions are the most important documents produced by the Holy See, touching all matters of...

instrument to ensure order both in individual and social life, and also in the Church’s activity itself. Therefore, besides containing the fundamental elements of the hierarchical and organic structure of the Church as willed by her divine Founder, or as based upon apostolic, or in any case most ancient, tradition, and besides the fundamental principles which govern the exercise of the threefold office entrusted to the Church itself, the Code must also lay down certain rules and norms of behavior.