Sacramentum Mundi Online

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Church - Constitution of the Church
(2,092 words)

Part of Church:

1. History of Ecclesiology

2. Ecclesiology

3. Constitution of the Church

4. Universality of the Church

5. Membership of the Church

1. If one wishes to speak in terms of sacred law of a “constitution” of the Catholic Church on the grounds that it is a societas perfecta, then the actual details of such a constitution have already been dealt with in other articles. The Church is, among other things, a social reality, a juridically constituted society, the highest governing body of which is the universal episcopate which has as its …

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Karl Rahner, “Church - Constitution of the Church”, in: Sacramentum Mundi Online, General Editor Karl Rahner, SJ. Consulted online on 30 November 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-483X_smuo_COM_000723>
First published online: 2016



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