Faculties

This article explains the importance of faculties in canonical law. For other meanings, see faculty .

Faculties ( lat. Facultates "powers of attorney") generally refer to the transfer of rights by a superordinate to a subordinate institution in Catholic church law .

General

This applies in particular to powers that are transferred by the Pope to bishops ( dispensation authority ), this can be permanent or more often for a limited period (e.g. quinquennal faculties, decennal faculties). This faculty law concerns rights reserved for the Pope, such as the exercise of ordinations . Nowadays, however, even in canon law, faculty law is more the position of the Catholic theological faculties at state universities in terms of church and state church law.

Quinquennal Faculties

Quinquennal faculties have been empowered by the Holy See for five years (quinquennium) since the 17th century , and they were primarily granted to German bishops. Most of these powers were the papal promise to grant dispensations that were actually the responsibility of the Pope. In these dispensations, the focus was on mixed marriages and indulgence rules . These privileges also gave rise to disputes between the bishops and the nuncios .

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• Carl Andresen , Georg Denzler , Dictionary of Church History , Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag , Munich, May 1982, ISBN 3-423-03245-6