An episcopal conference, often also called a bishops’ conference or conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to meet regularly, with its own legal structure and ecclesial leadership function, is the Swiss Bishops' Conference, which was founded in 1863. More than forty episcopal conferences existed before the Second Vatican Council. Their status was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council and further defined by Pope Paul VI's 1966 motu proprio, Ecclesiae sanctae.
Episcopal conferences are generally defined by geographic borders, often national ones, with all the bishops in a given country belonging to the same conference, although they may also include neighboring countries. Certain authority and tasks are assigned to episcopal conferences, particularly with regard to setting the liturgical norms for the Mass, a role affirmed in the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. 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 immediate authority for the governance of their respective dioceses to the conference.
Theological and juridical status
The operation, authority, and responsibilities of episcopal conferences are currently governed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law (see especially canons 447–459) In addition, there are assemblies of bishops which include the bishops of different rites in a nation, both Eastern Catholic and Latin Catholic; these are described in canon 322 §2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
The nature of episcopal conferences, and their magisterial authority in particular, was subsequently clarified by Pope John Paul II in his 1998 motu proprio, Apostolos suos, which stated that the declarations of such conferences "constitute authentic magisterium" when approved unanimously by the conference; otherwise the conference must achieve a two-thirds majority and seek the recognitio, that is, recognition of approval, of the Holy See, which they will not receive if the majority "is not substantial".
In the 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis expressed his concern that the intent of the Second Vatican Council, which would give episcopal conferences "genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated". On September 9, 2017, Pope Francis modified canon law, granting episcopal conferences specific authority "to faithfully prepare … approve and publish the liturgical books for the regions for which they are responsible after the confirmation of the Apostolic See." The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which formerly had primary responsibility for translations, was ordered to "help the Episcopal Conferences to fulfil their task." On October 22, 2017, the Holy See released a letter that Pope Francis had sent to the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, clarifying that the Holy See and its departments would have only limited authority to confirm liturgical translations recognized by a local episcopal conference. In late February, 2018, the Council of Cardinals and Pope Francis undertook a consideration of the theological status of episcopal conferences, re-reading Pope John Paul II's Apostolos Suos in the light of Pope Francis's Evangelii Gaudium.
List of episcopal conferences
Source:
Africa
Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé
Episcopal Conference of Benin
Conference of Bishops of Burkina Faso and of Niger
Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi
National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon
Central African Episcopal Conference
Episcopal Conference of Chad
Episcopal Conference of the Congo
Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Episcopal Conference of the Côte d'Ivoire
Episcopal Conference of Equatorial Guinea
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea
Episcopal Conference of Gabon
Inter-territorial Catholic Bishops' Conference of The Gambia and Sierra Leone
Ghana Bishops' Conference
Episcopal Conference of Guinea
Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean
Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops
Lesotho Catholic Bishops' Conference
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Liberia
Episcopal Conference of Madagascar
Episcopal Conference of Malawi
Episcopal Conference of Mali
Episcopal Conference of Mozambique
Namibian Catholic Bishops' Conference
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria
Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa
Conference of Catholic Bishops of Rwanda
Conference of Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea Bissau
Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC)
Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference
Tanzania Episcopal Conference
Episcopal Conference of Togo
Uganda Episcopal Conference
Zambia Episcopal Conference
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference
Asia
Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh
Bishops' Conference of Central Asia
Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference
Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI)
Bishops' Conference of Indonesia (KWI)
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea
Episcopal Conference of Laos and Cambodia
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (CBCMSB)
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan
Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand