Vatican weighs decentralizing some authority over permanent deacons

This tidbit popped up earlier today:

The group of cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the Vatican bureaucracy has considered specific ways to decentralize authority in the Catholic church, proposing in particular that more responsibility for permanent deacons could move from Rome to local bishops’ conferences.

The nine member Council of Cardinals spoke in their June 12-14 meeting about “transferring some faculties from the Roman Curia to local bishops or bishops’ conferences,” Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said in a short briefing June 14.

Burke said the group spoke specifically about transferring some authority over permanent deacons from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy to national bishops’ conferences. The spokesman said authority that could be transferred includes allowing a deacon who has become a widower to remarry.

Bill Ditewig notes:

In the news conference reporting on the meeting, Director of the Holy See Press Office, American Greg Burke included:

Among other proposals, the possibility of transferring some functions from the Roman Dicasteries to the local bishops or episcopal councils, in a spirit of healthy decentralization.

For example, the transfer of the Dicastery for the Clergy to the Episcopal Conference for examination and authorization for: the priestly ordination of an unmarried permanent deacon; the passage to new marriage for a widowed permanent deacon; the request for priestly ordination by a widowed permanent deacon.

The three issues mentioned today are all questions that up until now have required a petition from the cleric involved to the Holy See for resolution.  None of them were things that could be decided by the local diocesan bishop or the regional episcopal conference (such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops).

…The [Council of Cardinals] specifically mentions the Episcopal Conference as the possible new decision-maker, while I have suggested the possibility of the diocesan bishop in some cases.  What I am envisioning is that the Conference might well develop procedures and policies which might further delegate such matters, under certain circumstances, to the diocesan bishop.  For example, in 1968, it was the Episcopal Conference which received authorization to ordained (permanent) deacons.  The Conference then extended that authorization to each Bishop for his decision on the question.

The question of “healthy decentralization” is a wonderful one, and it is intriguing that the diaconate is part of that conversation!

Intriguing indeed! Read the whole thing.