I read yesterday the Pope’s Moto Proprio entitled Omnium in Mentem. I meant to write a post on it yesterday, but got caught up in the busyness of the day here at the office as well as in the parish in the evening. By this morning, I notice that there are other bloggers writing about it.
A Motu Proprio is an apostolic letter a pope writes by his own initiative. This one has to do with some changes in Canon Law about deacons on one hand, and marriage on the other. Mind you, not about marriage and the diaconate, but about both separately.
As far as I can tell, there is no official English translation of the Latin document. My review of the Latin and the unofficial Italian translation seems to indicate, in reference to the diaconate, that the code of canon law now will state:
“With the sacrament of orders by divine institution some among the faithful, by means of an indelible character with which they are marked, are made sacred ministers. They, therefore, are consecrated and constituted to serve, each in his own grade, with a new and particular title, the people of God.’ (Art. 2, can. 1008)
“Those that are in the order of the episcopacy or the presbyterate receive the mission and the faculty to act in the person of Christ the Head; deacons, however are enabled to serve the people of God in the diaconia of liturgy, word and charity.” (Art. 2 can. 1009)
It seems to me that the pope is making clear that the diaconate is a order unto its own, clarifying that it is not just a transitional order toward the presbyterate. It also seems to be saying that deacons do not act in the “person of Christ the Head” as do priests and bishops.
What on a practical level this will mean for the diaconate is unknown, I would think. I will imagine the theologians and theologian wannabees will be reading a lot into these few word changes of canon law and the pope’s letter.
Time will tell.
