An event from 25 years ago is written in thick letters in the history of ecu- menism. On 7—9 May 1999, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II, made an apostolic journey to Romania, a first visit by any pontiff to a country of Orthodoxy. A specific climax of the event was the papal words delivered at the departure ceremony: “Here, on Romanian soil it is especially clear that the Church breathes with both lungs.” That is how the idea of the two lungs of the Church (already present in the Pope’s teach- ing before) became permanently inscribed as a keystone and the first element of the magisterial “triad,” delineating the hermeneutic horizon of the contemporary interpreta- tion of the words: Ut unum sint. The two remaining, equally essential elements — identified in the great encyclical bearing the same title, are: the idea/postulate of Eucharistic ecclesiology and the idea/postulate of a new form of exercising the primacy (synodal- ity). This article constitutes an attempt to show the inseparable role of ius ecclesiasticum (both in the area of legislation and execution of law) within the context of the need of a multi-level activity — consistent but also pressing, the proof of which is Pope Francis’ synodal engagement — of implementing the paradigms of John Paul II’s ecumenical thought.

The world today is described as postmodern. However, the forms of reli- gious life still present in it allow it to be seen as post-secular. The programmatic removal of religion from social life has not achieved results. The continued pres- ence of religion brings its characteristic values to social life. The world can draw on its unique normative intuition as expressed by Jürgen Habermas. The norma- tive dimension of religion is also constituted by its law. For this reason, a reflec- tion has been undertaken on the possibility of a dialogue between the law of the Church and the law in the world, in its postmodern view. An area of possible dia- logue is the unity of the idea of law expressed in the plurality of legal orders. The determinants of this idea include, among others, equity, legal security and justice, which were presented as reference points for the possibility of dialogue between law and canon law.

The present article discusses John Paul II’s exhortation Ecclesia in Europa (2002), focusing first on the biblical sources of its systematics. In fact, the framework of the exhortation is defined by several passages taken from the Revelation of St. John; however, the text is also filled with other biblical references. The origins of the Trinitar- ian theological inspiration in the exhortation relate to the preparations for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, since each of the three years preceding the Jubilee was dedi- cated to one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. On the one hand, the exhortation expresses hope for the European continent, whose unique source is the person of Jesus Christ; on the other hand, it does not obfuscate the problems the Church in Europe faces, for instance, abandoning the sacrament of reconciliation and the moral princi- ples of premarital purity, favouring new ecclesial movements at the expense of a parish pastoral model; excessive activism accompanied by a lack of contemplation. The exhor- tation welcomes the process of European integration and its organizational and insti- tutional guarantees. Thanks to the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), this dynamic also finds a reflection in the Catholic Church itself. However, the exhor- tation takes a critical view of abortion and euthanasia, as forms of attack on innocent human life.

The aim of this article is to provide the main indications for a renewal of the Catholic Church in Europe in the face of contemporary challenges, both internal (e.g. community crisis, neglect of evangelisation, insufficient catechisation, secularisation, insufficient involvement of the laity) and external (e.g. general crisis of religiousness, indi- vidualisation of life). The source material is the teaching of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, who can be described as the “popes of the new evangelisation.” Basically, this article analyses certain official documents of the Bishops of Rome and selected, due to their number, official homilies and speeches. The analysis of the texts leads to the following conclusions: there is a need for evan- gelisation leading to a personal decision on faith, catechisation and multidimensional formation, a renewal of spirituality, a deepening of the ecclesial self-awareness of the faithful, and the Church’s involvement in world affairs (ecumenism, interreligious dia- logue, human brotherhood, addressing social issues, articulating the truth about mar- riage and the family, help in solving migration problems and care for the environment).

For Pope John Paul II, marriage and the family constituted not only an ecclesi- ological, philosophical, and juridical-canonical concern of study and research, but also a pastoral missionary one, which was determined by his observations on the precarious social and juridical status of the two ancient institutions of humanity at the end of the second millennium.

The Pontiff’s observations have been translated into concrete actions in the field of his pastoral work on marriage and the family, as well as in theological, philosophi- cal and legal works, whose powerful ideas have influenced not only the doctrine of the Catholic Church, but have also had a beneficial impact on the policy of international decision-making bodies on the social and legal status of the two institutions, which we find in the international legal instruments.

In this regard, the text of the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, published by Pope John Paul II in 2003, remains paradigmatic, in which the Roman Pontiff proclaimed that the source and hope of Europe, including for the two institutions, marriage and the family, is Jesus Christ alone, urging both the “Small Church,” that is, the family, and the “Great Church,” that is, the Church of all Christians, to witness to Him with faith and courage.

The article deals with the reform of the Roman Curia, implemented in 2022 by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium of Pope Francis. It does not deal with the redefined structure of the Roman Curia, but places this reform in a broader his- torical context, with an emphasis on comparison with the previous regulations of Popes Sixtus V in 1588, Pius X in 1908, the first Code of Canon Law of 1917, and the two pre- vious reforms after the Second Vatican Council, of Pope Paul VI in 1967 and John Paul II in 1988. It shows both the partial continuity of Pope Francis’ reform and the preceding juridical regulations, as well as his new emphases, and the partial juridical discontinu- ity that leads to a discrepancy in canon law between the provisions of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, on the one hand, and Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution, on the other. This will have to be addressed in the future, either by further changes in the structure of the Roman Curia or by amend- ing the provisions of the two existing Codes.

The article addresses the issue of church-state relations and religious freedom. It presents legal solutions in different countries (concordat, agreements).

An article is a scientific review of a publication: Sławomir Gołębiowski, W obronie własnej tożsamości, Płock: Wydawnictwo Kościoła Starokatolickiego Mariawitów 2024, pp. 202.

Paulina Jabłońska:

Dziecko jako podmiot wolności religijnej

[The Child as a Subject of Religious Freedom] Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UKSW, 2023