The apostolic visitation frequently runs the risk of losing its specificity and being substantially considered as a version of the pastoral visitation ordered by the Roman centre, with an overlapping of the fields, both in terms of the role of the visits and of the historical research . At times the fact that the Diocesan Ordinary has been submitted to visit by the Roman Delegate and the visitor’s possibility to intervene, albeit not completely, in the exempt places, have not been considered to be truly appreciable variants. A variety of aspects have conspired to this simplification, and to this assimilation of different realities. Generally speaking, it seems that, at least up until recent times, a thorough analysis of the diverse essence of the two types of visitation - i.e. pastoral and apostolic - has not been particularly well developed. Our feeling is that the lack of a precise delimitation is the result of an over-extensive use of the concept of Catholic reform that has aimed to assimilate, according to criteria that in this case are really apologetic and damaging for their exact collocation, two phenomena that are different between them, not only in juridical terms (such as the authority that possesses the right of visit) but also in theological, ecclesiological and political terms. As a first approximation we can rather assume as a working hypothesis the prospect of an apostolic visitation that is not simply a “special edition” duplicate of the pastoral one but one that has its own objectives and limited choices, that are developed as a function not so much of a capillary inculcation of principles and laws, but also as the uptake of information, control, correction and direction vis-à-vis the work of the local bishop, with the analyses relating to the function of intervention in the jurisdictions exempted by the bishop . In that place it was underlined that it was the bishop’s task to oversee ‘very diligently’ so that all the issued decrees should be enforced and implemented . So the apostolic visitation finds in the test of the Diocesan Ordinary and in the dispositions that he is given, some of its peculiar characteristics, which differentiate it from the pastoral visitation . -

The Apostolic Visitation in the Post-Tridentine Church

MAZZONE, UMBERTO
2011

Abstract

The apostolic visitation frequently runs the risk of losing its specificity and being substantially considered as a version of the pastoral visitation ordered by the Roman centre, with an overlapping of the fields, both in terms of the role of the visits and of the historical research . At times the fact that the Diocesan Ordinary has been submitted to visit by the Roman Delegate and the visitor’s possibility to intervene, albeit not completely, in the exempt places, have not been considered to be truly appreciable variants. A variety of aspects have conspired to this simplification, and to this assimilation of different realities. Generally speaking, it seems that, at least up until recent times, a thorough analysis of the diverse essence of the two types of visitation - i.e. pastoral and apostolic - has not been particularly well developed. Our feeling is that the lack of a precise delimitation is the result of an over-extensive use of the concept of Catholic reform that has aimed to assimilate, according to criteria that in this case are really apologetic and damaging for their exact collocation, two phenomena that are different between them, not only in juridical terms (such as the authority that possesses the right of visit) but also in theological, ecclesiological and political terms. As a first approximation we can rather assume as a working hypothesis the prospect of an apostolic visitation that is not simply a “special edition” duplicate of the pastoral one but one that has its own objectives and limited choices, that are developed as a function not so much of a capillary inculcation of principles and laws, but also as the uptake of information, control, correction and direction vis-à-vis the work of the local bishop, with the analyses relating to the function of intervention in the jurisdictions exempted by the bishop . In that place it was underlined that it was the bishop’s task to oversee ‘very diligently’ so that all the issued decrees should be enforced and implemented . So the apostolic visitation finds in the test of the Diocesan Ordinary and in the dispositions that he is given, some of its peculiar characteristics, which differentiate it from the pastoral visitation . -
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/119638
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