DE CONCORDIA INTER CODICES: TOWARDS HARMONIZATION BETWEEN THE LATIN CODE AND THE EASTERN CODE

In his apostolic letter, De concordia inter Codices, Pope Francis expressed his constant solicitude for a concordance between the two Codes of the Catholic Church. By way of the letter's Preamble and eleven articles, His Holiness made changes to a number of Latin norms thereby effecting a greater harmony between the Latin and Eastern Codes. Despite the pope's concern for an appropriate degree of harmony between the Codes, he also acknowledged that the Codes have their own peculiarities which make them mutually independent. As a result, while De concordia inter Codices harmonizes a number of parallel norms of the Codes, others remain disharmonious as the motu proprio took into consideration the different traditions behind the two separate and distinct Codes of the universal Church. With specific reference to the articles of De concordia inter Codices, part 1 of this paper endeavours to examine the harmony achieved between parallel norms of the Latin and Eastern Codes. Then, part 2 considers several unresolved questions raised as a result of the publication of the motu proprio. As these issues remain, continuing harmonization of the Codes may be required to provide greater clarity and authoritative answers to these matters.