Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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DE EPISCOPORUM MUNERIBUS

An apostolic letter of Pope Paul VI setting down a series of norms to be followed by bishops in their exercise of the faculties of dispensation. Two important provisions are a reminder that the Code of Canon Law remains binding except where the Holy See has expressly abrogated some canonical directives,a nd that the faculty of dispensation applies only to perceptive and prohibitive laws, not to norms that establish the Church's laws. The basic thrust of the document is to spell out the dispensations reserved to the Pope (June 15, 1966).