Profiles Concerning the Historical Development and Legal Treatment of the Special Faculties Granted by the Apostolic See to Bishops and Other Ordinaries

Abstract

This article analyzes the historical development and legal treatment of the phenomenon of the habitual granting of special faculties by the Apostolic See to Ordinaries. This practice, which arose from the need to introduce flexibility into common law—particularly in mission territories—gave rise to the so-called System of Faculties, centered on the Formulas of Faculties. The 1917 Code of Canon Law, although not explicitly mentioning this System, provided a normative framework for it through its provisions on habitual faculties (can. 66 § 1), understood as privilegia praeter ius. The System persisted until the Second Vatican Council, whose teachings affirmed the full, proper, and immediate ordinary power of Bishops. The 1983 Code of Canon Law definitively incorporated these teachings, marking the definitive superseding of the former System and reaffirming the broad authority of Bishops. Nevertheless, the new Code retains a canon on habitual faculties (can. 132), although it is relocated within the scope of delegated power and is entirely detached from the now-defunct System.