Pope to Roman Rota: Justice and charity find harmony in mystery of God
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"You are called to safeguard the truth with rigor but without rigidity, and to exercise charity without omission."
Pope Leo XIV made this invitation to the prelate auditors of the Tribunal of Roman Rota in the Vatican on Monday, as he inaugurated its Judicial Year.
The Tribunal of the Roman Rota ordinarily acts as an appellate court of higher instance at the Apostolic See, with the purpose of safeguarding rights within the Church. It fosters unity of jurisprudence and, by virtue of its decisions, provides assistance to lower tribunals.
The Tribunal also includes the Office competent to adjudicate the fact of the non-consummation of marriage and the existence of a just cause for granting dispensations. This Office is also competent to deal with cases of the nullity of sacred ordination, pursuant to the norm of universal and proper law, in accordance with the different cases. It has a collegiate structure and is composed of a certain number of judges of proven doctrine, competence, and experience selected by the Pope from various parts of the world.
Precious service
The Pope began by thanking them for their work, "which is a precious service to the universal judicial function that belongs to the Pope and in which the Lord has called you to share," noting that the expression “Veritatem facientes in caritate” (The truth in love) (Eph 4:15), "can be applied to your daily mission in the administration of justice."
He thanked those present in the audience and everyone working in Church tribunals throughout the world, noting, "The ministry of judge that I have had occasion to exercise enables me to understand your experience more deeply and to appreciate the ecclesial significance of your task."
Pope Leo then returned to a fundamental theme that has been central in the addresses delivered to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota from Pope Pius XII up to Pope Francis, concerning the relationship of their activity "with the truth that is intrinsic to justice."
"On this occasion," the Pope said, "I intend to offer you some reflections on the close bond that exists between the truth of justice and the virtue of charity," clarifying they "are not two opposing principles, nor values to be balanced according to purely pragmatic criteria, but two dimensions intrinsically united, which find their deepest harmony in the very mystery of God, who is Love and Truth."
This correlation, he stated, calls for constant and careful critical discernment, "since, in the exercise of judicial activity, a dialectical tension not infrequently emerges between the demands of objective truth and the concerns of charity."
A delicate balance
"At times," Pope Leo said, "there is the risk that excessive identification with the often-troubled circumstances of the faithful may lead to a dangerous relativization of the truth."
"Indeed, a misguided compassion, even when apparently motivated by pastoral zeal," Pope Leo said, "risks obscuring the necessary dimension of ascertaining the truth that is proper to the judicial office."
"This," he continued, "can occur not only in cases of matrimonial nullity—where it might lead to decisions of a pastoral character lacking a solid objective foundation—but also in any type of proceeding, thereby undermining its rigor and equity."
On the other hand, he cautioned, "there can sometimes be a cold and detached affirmation of the truth that fails to take into account all that love for persons requires, omitting those concerns dictated by respect and mercy, which must be present at every stage of a process."
In considering the relationship between truth and charity, Pope Leo insisted that St. Paul offered "clear guidance" when exhorting in his Letter to the Ephesians that, “Living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ.”
"Veritatem facientes in caritate," Pope Leo reiterated, "does not mean merely conforming to a speculative truth, but “doing the truth,” that is, a truth that must illuminate the whole of one’s actions. And this must be done “in charity,” which is the great driving force that leads to the practice of true justice."
Not a tension between opposing interests, but an instrument for discernment
The process, Pope Leo said, "is not in itself a tension between opposing interests, as is sometimes mistakenly thought, but the indispensable instrument for discerning truth and justice in a given case."
The Pope went on to discuss the adversarial nature of judicial proceedings, and delineated the rigorous elements needed to properly assess these delicate situations and to ascertain appropriately the truth.
"Failure to observe these basic principles of justice—and the fostering of unjustified disparities in the treatment of similar situations—constitutes a serious injury to the juridical dimension of ecclesial communion."
The Pope also addressed the shorter process for the declaration of matrimonial nullity before the diocesan Bishop.
Here, he said, "the apparently manifest nature of the ground of nullity that makes this procedure possible must be assessed with great care, without forgetting that it will be the duly conducted process itself that must confirm the existence of nullity or determine the need to have recourse to the ordinary process."
With all this in mind, the Holy Father underscored, "it therefore proves fundamental that the study and application of canonical matrimonial law continue with scientific seriousness and fidelity to the Magisterium."
Praying that the true wisdom of Christian law must be made manifest, Pope Leo XIV entrusted their work to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Speculum iustitiae, "the perfect model of truth in charity."
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