Assembly of Hierarchs of Several Churches sui iuris is a periodic regional assembly established under CCEO canon 322 so Catholic hierarchs of several Churches sui iuris can coordinate pastoral action without erasing each Church's rite or proper authority.
A cross-Church regional body
Where the Apostolic See judges it opportune, patriarchs, metropolitans heading metropolitan Churches sui iuris, eparchial bishops, and other local Hierarchs admitted by the statutes are called to periodic meetings within the same nation or region. The membership may span several Eastern Churches sui iuris and the Latin Church.[1]
A patriarch or another authority designated by the Apostolic See convokes the assembly. Canon 322 assigns it consultation and cooperation for the common good: promoting unity of action, supporting common works, advancing religion, and safeguarding ecclesiastical discipline through the shared prudence and experience of the participating Hierarchs.[2]
Strict limits on binding decisions
An assembly decision has binding juridical force only if it prejudices neither the rite of any Church sui iuris nor the power of patriarchs, synods, metropolitans, and Councils of Hierarchs; it must also receive at least two-thirds of the deliberative votes and the approval of the Apostolic See. Coordination is thus real but does not create a superior Church over the participating Churches.
A decision that exceeds the assembly's competence lacks force until approved by the Roman Pontiff, even if adopted unanimously. The assembly cannot use consensus to appropriate authority reserved to an individual eparchial bishop, the governing organs of a Church sui iuris, or supreme ecclesiastical authority.
Statutes, ecumenism, and neighboring institutions
Each assembly prepares statutes that require Apostolic See approval. Those statutes should, as far as possible, foster participation by Hierarchs of Churches not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. Canon 322 does not thereby grant such participants an automatic deliberative vote; their mode of participation remains governed by the approved statutes.
The assembly differs from the Council of Hierarchs of one metropolitan Church sui iuris and from the Synod of Bishops of one patriarchal Church. It can also differ canonically from a Latin episcopal conference even when some bishops belong to both. Its defining purpose is cooperation among distinct Churches and jurisdictions while their proper patrimonies and governing powers remain intact.[3]
References
- 1.Orientalium Ecclesiarum — Vatican II on the equal dignity, proper patrimony, government, synods, and inter-Church relations of the Eastern Catholic Churches
- 2.Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church — International Theological Commission account of Eastern Catholic synodal structures and their ecclesiological setting
- 3.Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches — Official text governing Churches sui iuris, patriarchal and metropolitan structures, hierarchs, enrollment, and inter-Church transfer