EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE

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In the Roman Catholic Church, an 'Episcopal Conference', 'Conference of Bishops', or 'National Conference of Bishops' is an official assembly of all the bishops of a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities, but were first established as formal bodies by the Second Vatican Council (''Christus Dominus'', 38), and implemented by Pope Paul VI's 1966 ''motu proprio'' ''Ecclesiae sanctae''.^[1] The operation, authority, and responsibilities of episcopal conferences are currently governed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law (see especially canons 447-459).^[2] The nature of episcopal conferences, and their magisterial authority in particular, was subsequently clarified by Pope John Paul II's 1998 ''motu proprio'' ''Apostolos suos''.
Episcopal conferences are generally defined by geographic borders, with all the bishops in a given country belonging to the same conference. Certain tasks and authority are assigned to episcopal conferences, particularly with regard to setting the liturgical norms for the Mass. Episcopal conferences receive their authority under universal law or particular mandates. In certain circumstances, as defined by canon law, the decisions of an episcopal conference are subject to ratification from the Holy See. Individual bishops do not relinquish their authority to the conference, and remain responsible for the governance of their respective diocese.

Contents

Episcopal Conferences

Footnotes

See also

Episcopal Conferences

This is a partial list of episcopal conferences:
;Africa

★ Conférence Episcopale Nationale du Congo

★ Kenya Episcopal Conference

★ Namibian Catholic Bishops' Conference

★ Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference

★ Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference
;Asia

★ Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference

★ Catholic Bishops' Conference of India

★ Conference of Catholic Bishops of India

★ Bishops' Conference of Indonesia

★ Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan

★ Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei

★ Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines
;Europe

★ Konferenca Ipeshkvnore e Shqipërisë

★ Conférence épiscopale de Belgique

★ Biskupska Konferencija Bosne i Hercegovine

★ Česká biskupská konference

★ Deutsche Bischofskonferenz

★ Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales

★ Conferencia Episcopal Española

★ Conférence des Evêques de France

★ Irish Bishops Conference

★ Conferenza Episcopale Italiana

★ Magyar Katolikus Püspöki Konferencia

★ Konferenza Episkopali Maltija

★ Nederlandse Bisschoppenconferentie

★ Österreichische Bischofskonferenz

★ Konferencja Episkopatu Polski

★ Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa

★ Scandinavian Bishops Conference

★ Bishops' Conference of Scotland

★ Konferencia biskupov Slovenska

★ Slovenska škofovska konferenca

★ Conférence des Evêques Suisses

★ Conference of the Roman Catholic Bishops of Ukraine
;North America

★ Antilles Episcopal Conference

★ Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

★ Conferencia Episcopal de Costa Rica

★ Conferencia Episcopal de Guatemala

★ Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano

★ Conferencia Episcopal de Nicaragua

★ United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
;Oceania

★ Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

★ New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference

★ Catholic Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands
;South America

★ Argentine Episcopal Conference

★ Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil

★ Conferencia Episcopal de Colombia

★ Conferencia Episcopal Ecuatoriana

★ Conferencia Episcopal Peruana

★ Conferencia Episcopal del Uruguay

★ Conferencia Episcopal Venezolana
;Latin America

★ Conference of Latin American Bishops

★ Latin American Episcopal Conference

Footnotes

1. ''The Limits of the Papacy'', p. 97, by Patrick Granfield, Crossroad, New York, 1987. ISBN 0-8245-0839-4
2. Pope John Paul II, ''Apostolos Suos'', 5.

See also

★ Episcopal See

★ List of all Episcopal Conferences by Giga-Catholic Information

★ Sullivan, Francis. "The Teaching Authority of Episcopal Conferences", ''Theological Studies'', v. 63, 2002, pp. 472-493.