Understanding the Structure of the Spanish Church and Its Entities
The Spanish Church and the Episcopal Conference
The Spanish Church, so called, is a conventional concept, by which we mean the realization of the Catholic Church when acting within the national territory and does not act as subjects of international law. Forecasts agreed enjoy the same autonomy as the Universal Church at the national level, guaranteeing the free exercise of all those activities which are peculiar and particular to the church. This autonomy includes the freedom of religion, jurisdiction, and magisterium, which encompasses the power to promulgate and publish rules for the governance of each church, as well as the communication skills of the Ordinaries and other ecclesiastical authorities in relation to the clergy and the faithful. To determine what the competencies of both the Universal Church and particular churches are, one must refer to the meaning in canon law, which acts as statutory law.
The Spanish Church is composed of dioceses, parishes, and other ecclesiastical entities with its territorial base within the state, with the express prohibition that none is under the submission of a bishop whose headquarters are abroad. Within the Spanish Church, ecclesiastical matters are best understood in the Principality of Andorra, which belongs to the Diocese of Urgel. The Spanish Episcopal Conference is the expression of institutionalized Spanish bishops according to their statutes, which have been approved by the Holy See. The Episcopal Conference, as a permanent institution established by the bishops of a given country, is a creation of Vatican II. The current Code of Canon Law provides a general regulation for the Episcopal Conferences, defined as the permanent assembly of bishops of a particular nation. The Spanish Episcopal Conference has been established on two occasions: the first, following the instructions of the council, was approved by the Holy See on January 5, 1977, serving thus ecclesiastical and the requirements of the agreed standard. Subsequently, completing the current canonical dispositions, it was approved by the Holy See on February 5, 1991. The Spanish Episcopal Conference, in the first draft of the statutes, states that it has legal personality by virtue of its own right, able to acquire, retain, manage, and dispose of property, which is why the legal recognition in Spain does not grant civil legal personality in accordance with its own statutes, which have been approved by the Holy See. Legal personality is attributed ipso jure (Standard Concorde), to the extent of their own statutes, without this requiring registration in the RER.
Dioceses, Parishes, and Other Territorial Subdivisions
Dioceses, parishes, and other ecclesiastical subdivisions are entities of the organizational framework of the Catholic Church with a legal structure and specific territorial scope of jurisdiction determined by their own boundaries. Even if those juridical and canonical structures do not exhaust their performance within these territorial frameworks, the doctrine is likely to call them organizational entities, more in line with the new terminology codified, while some of them have a personal base. The dioceses, parishes, territorial ecclesiastical districts, and other organizational entities will be constituted as prescribed by Canon Law, obtaining legal personality by virtue of which states that they exercise their responsibilities within the policy framework designed by this ordinance. In relation to the right of the State, they will operate as statutory law.
The diocese is the paradigmatic embodiment of the local Church. Only the supreme ecclesiastical authority can raise it, and once it has been legitimately constituted, it enjoys legal personality ipso jure canonically. The present system determines that the diocese, once validly constituted, shall have civil legal personality once it has canonical status, with no further requirement than the notification practiced by the competent ecclesiastical authority to DGAR, who shall acknowledge receipt thereof. The notification shall be attested by any of the evidence admitted in law, the most common being the certification issued by the DGAR, in which it is shown that the notification has been practiced. Transitional arrangements are established for those existing dioceses in Spain prior to the entry into force of AJ, which may prove the legal status of any of the evidence admitted in law, including certification from ecclesiastical authority indicating that the notification has been carried out or from DGAR itself. Examining the rule cited RDGAR Concorde, we conclude that, in relation to civil legal personality, registration in the RER is not required, which is constitutively recognized by the same legal personality of religious institutions, and to be recognized for these effects to the legitimate constitution of Canon Law.
The parish is a faith community, incorporated in a stable manner within the local Church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor under the authority of the Diocesan Bishop, who exclusively holds the power to erect, suppress, or alter parishes. For Spanish law, the applicable regime, both current and transitional, is the same as the one designed for the diocese. Parishes will legitimately constitute civil legal personality once the canon has been established, without requiring registration in the RER, crediting the tip with the certificate stating the notification to the DGAR or issued by ecclesiastical authority or DGAR. Other territorial or functional entities, such as councils, cathedrals, and seminaries, are all canonically recognized as legal persons or are part of the territorial par excellence, the diocese, or have legal personality ope legis civil, and do not need to be specified in the RER. The arciprestazgos, vicarages, and pastoral areas, if they are canonically erected as legal persons, need not enroll in the RER to obtain civil legal personality, being enough to provide DGAR notification and certification proving the same. Finally, the diocesan secretariats shall be considered services, and the diocesan curia lacks canonical legal personality and therefore cannot be entered in any public record.
Religious Orders, Congregations, and Institutes of Consecrated Life
These Catholic nuns, under the rules of the current Code of Canon Law, are subsumed under a single term or Institutes of Consecrated Life. The religious orders or congregations, in the terminology of AJ or Institutes of Consecrated Life, whether they have obtained canonical legal personality or not, will have civil legal personality once they have registered in the RER. They are bound by the provisions of the LOLR and the RD 142/1981. In terms of time, the current system states: a) those who are registered in the records set by the Decree of March 12, 1959, will be transferred automatically to the RER; b) those who enjoy civil legal personality under AJ entering into force should precede the entry in the RER within three years, as the only way to prove their legal status; c) those who do not have or are erected canonically in the future should register in the RER.
Regarding the way in which registration must be applied for, a religious order or congregation can do so in a global demand, jointly referring to their provinces or homes, or individually, by each of its provinces or houses. In this latter case, the entity should be civilly recognized. The application must be a public document, endorsed by the CONFER, stating the canonical goals (approval by the competent organ of the Episcopal Conference), identification data of representative bodies, operating system, and powers of these bodies legitimated by civil notary. As for other entities such as Catholic foundations, although the State recognizes the right to foundation for the Catholic Church, differentiated from the general scheme of the EC, in the sense that it can be formed under its own right, it can only obtain civil legal personality once they are enrolled in the RER. Other smaller religious bodies must also enroll in the RER to obtain civil legal personality, having the legal requirements that regulate it, especially with regard to religious purposes, an issue discussed above. Regarding welfare charities in general, they shall be governed by statutory regulations and have the same rights as private charities.