Pope’s unilateral decisions undermine Vatican’s rule of law

March 26, 2025

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CWN Editor's Note: In a lengthy essay for Catholic World Report, J.D. Flynn and Ed Condon of The Pillar examine the many cases in which Pope Francis has ignored the requirements of canon law. Although the Pope, as supreme legislator, has the power to change the law, his choice to ignore legal guidelines creates problems, they argue:

The presence of so many public examples raises questions about whether more challenges to the rule of law in recent years will emerge in the years to come. When instability replaces the rule of law, the law no longer becomes the tool protecting human dignity that Pope Francis praised; rather, it becomes an instrument that can be wielded arbitrarily, to the harm of that same dignity.

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• Posted by: feedback - Mar. 27, 2025 3:22 AM ET USA

  This is why Cardinal Cupich blocked J.D. Flynn's talks he was scheduled to give last month in Chicago, under the auspices of the Lumen Christi Institute. https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=64830