Church own right (ecclesia sui iuris)

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The 24 autonomous (“autonomous”) churches that together form the one Roman Catholic Church are referred to as the Church of its own right ( ecclesia sui iuris ) - called the Rite Church ( ecclesia ritualis ) in the CIC until 2016 . These include the Latin Church (Western Church) and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches . The decreed renaming pursues the purpose of not restricting or concentrating the autonomy of these churches on the liturgy (" rite ").

An external characteristic of belonging to the Catholic Church is the recognition of the papal primacy , that is, the spiritual and legal leadership function in the Church by the Roman Pope. In principle, however, the latter only exercises patriarchal power over the Latin Church . The patriarchal and major archbishops of the Eastern Churches each have their own patriarchs or major archbishops with their own jurisdiction as heads .

Particular churches

The Eastern Churches belong to several ritual families; most use the Byzantine rite . In the Latin Church, the Roman rite is predominant.

According to the Annuario Pontificio , the Catholic Church has the following particular churches and rites:

Latin Church

The Latin Church is the largest and most important particular church with 2,664 bishoprics and 235 particular churches without a bishopric. As the bishop and metropolitan of Rome, the Pope is the head of the Latin Church. This also includes around 200 cardinals and 4800 bishops. The Roman rite is formative for this particular Church . In addition, there are also regional rites, more or less closely related to the Roman, according to local traditions , although most of them are only used to a limited extent as historical traditions. However, within the Latin Church no different Ecclesiae sui iuris can be distinguished. Rather, the Latin Church as a whole is on a par with the individual autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches.

Byzantine rite

The churches of the Byzantine rite are often referred to collectively as Greek-Catholic churches or Greek-Uniate or Byzantine-Catholic . The fact that “Greek” denotes the Byzantine rite has historical roots in the development of the Eastern Churches from the Greek-speaking primitive churches in the Eastern Roman Empire (in contrast to the “Latin” Church of the Western Roman Empire). It is also widespread to speak only of “Ukrainian-Catholic”, “Ruthenian-Catholic” etc., such as in the official regulations on religious affiliation in Austria .

Patriarchal Church
  • Melkite Greek Catholic Church (also called Melkite Catholic Church or Rum Catholic Church ): The patriarchal church, which is widespread in the Arab region of the Middle East, consists of 29 jurisdictions.
Grand Archbishop Church
  • Romanian Greek Catholic Church (also called Romanian Catholic Church ): It has spread mainly in Transylvania through Emperor Leopold I since 1693 and consists of 7 dioceses.
  • Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (also called Ukrainian Catholic Church, Kyiver Catholic Church ). The largest eastern church of the Byzantine rite was created by the Brest Union of 1595/96. It consists of 26 dioceses with a bishopric and six particular churches without a bishopric.
Metropolitan Church
Church with its own hierarchy

originated from the Greek Catholic Church in the former Yugoslavia (founded in 1777 in Slavonia, and currently under construction):

Church without its own hierarchy

The following do not represent particular churches in the strict sense, as no separate hierarchy has been established for them. Nevertheless, they each form a special ritual community.

former church

The Georgian Greek Catholic Church (also known as the Georgian Catholic Church ) only existed for a short time and has merged into the Latin Church in Georgia.

Alexandrian rite

The Alexandrian Rite churches emerged from the Patriarchate of Alexandria .

Patriarchal Church
Metropolitan Church

West Syrian (Antiochene) rite

The churches of the West Syrian or Antiochene Rite emerged from the Patriarchate of Antioch .

Patriarchal Church
Grand Archbishop Church

East Syrian (Chaldean) rite

The churches of the East Syrian or Chaldean Rite emerged from the Catholic of Seleukia-Ctesiphon :

Patriarchal Church
Grand Archbishop Church

Armenian rite

The Armenian Rite follows:

Patriarchal Church

Individual evidence

  1. Entry on ritual churches of the Catholic Church on gcatholic.org , accessed on December 13, 2014. (English)
  2. a b Smaller Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite: Greek Greek Catholic Church , prooriente.at, accessed July 4, 2014.
  3. a b c d These are recently (partly re) established nation states of Eastern Europe. It is certainly a long-term intention to bring together the exarchates of the home country and the diaspora communities, some of which are still subject to Roman Catholic jurisdiction, under a comprehensive church that is just as comprehensive as with the other rite churches, once the political and religious situation has consolidated. In some countries there are ordinariates for all Byzantine believers without their own ecclesiastical hierarchy (France, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, Poland).
  4. a b c Smaller Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite , prooriente.at.

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