Vatican, 08 August, 2023 / 8:07 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis changed canon law on Tuesday regarding the governance of Opus Dei and any future personal prelatures.
In a motu proprio issued Aug. 8, the pope assimilated the personal prelature to “public clerical associations of pontifical right with the faculty of incardinating clerics.” It also further defined the role of the prelate as a “moderator endowed with the faculties of an ordinary.”
The motu proprio modifies canons 295 and 296 of the Code of Canon Law on personal prelatures and immediately entered into force on the day of its publication.
The updated canons now state that the statutes that govern a personal prelature can be “approved or issued by the Apostolic See.”
To date, the international Catholic organization Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church. The group’s statutes have yet to be approved by the Holy See following its extraordinary congress in April.