Lumen Gentium: The Mystery of the Church (29, continued)

Chapter III of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is entitled “On the Hierarchical Structure of the Church and in Particular of the Episcopate.” It continues as follows:

“29. . . . Since these duties, so very necessary to the life of the Church, can be fulfilled only with difficulty in many regions in accordance with the discipline of the Latin Church as it exists today, the diaconate can in the future be restored as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy. It pertains to the competent territorial bodies of bishops, of one kind or another, with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff, to decide whether and where it is opportune for such deacons to be established for the care of souls. With the consent of the Roman Pontiff, this diaconate can, in the future, be conferred upon men of more mature age, even upon those living in the married state. It may also be conferred upon suitable young men, for whom the law of celibacy must remain intact.”

 

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Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium