Magisterium, Second Vatican Council

4. The bishops, by virtue of their sacramental consecration and their hierarchical communion with the head of the college and its other members, are constituted members of the episcopal body.[8] "The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the universal Church, but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff."[9] This authority "is exercised in a solemn way in an ecumenical council."[10] Accordingly the sacred Synod decrees that all bishops who are members of the episcopal college have the right to _

___________________________________________________________________ 5. Cf. VAT II, Dogm. Const. on the Church, ch. 3, nn. 21, 24, 25: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 24-25, 29-31. 6. Cf. VAT. II, Dogm. Const. on the Church, ch. 3, n. 21: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 24-25. 7. Cf. John XXIII, apost. const. _Humanae Salutis_, Dec. 25, 1961: AAS 54 (1962) p. 6. 8. Cf. VAT. II, Dogm. Const on the Church, ch. 3, n. 22: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 25-27. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid.

take part in an ecumenical council. "This same collegiate power can be exercised in union with the Pope by the bishops whilst living in different parts of the world, provided the head of the college summon them to collegiate action, or at least approve or freely admit the corporate action of the unassembled bishops, so that a truly collegiate action may result."[11]

5. Bishops chosen from different parts of the world in a manner and according to a system determined or to be determined by the Roman Pontiff will render to the Supreme Pastor a more effective auxiliary service in a council which shall be known by the special name of Synod of Bishops.[12] This council, as it will be representative of the whole Catholic episcopate, will bear testimony to the participation of all the bishops in hierarchical communion in the care of the universal Church.[13]

6. Bishops, as legitimate successors of the apostles and members of the episcopal college, should appreciate that they are closely united to each other and should be solicitous for all the churches. By divine institution and by virtue of their apostolic office, all of them jointly are responsible for the Church.[14]

They should be especially solicitous for those parts of the world in which the word of God has not yet been proclaimed or in which, especially on account of the scarcity of priests, the faithful are in danger of falling away from the obligations of the Christian life or even of losing the faith itself. Bishops should, therefore, do their utmost to ensure that the activities of evangelization and the apostolate are zealously supported and promoted by the faithful. It should, moreover, be their special care that suitable priests, as well as lay and religious auxiliaries, be trained for those missions and regions suffering from a lack of clergy. They should arrange also, as far as it is possible, that some of their priests should go to these missions or dioceses to exercise the sacred ministry there, either permanently or for a fixed period.

Furthermore, bishops should bear it in mind that in the expenditure of ecclesiastical resources they must take into account the needs not only of their own dioceses but of other individual _

___________________________________________________________________ 11. Ibid. 12. Cf. Paul VI, motu proprio _Apostolica Solicitudo_, 15 Sept. 1965: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 775-780. 13. Cf. VAT. II, Dogm. Const. on the Church, ch. 3, n. 23: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 27-28. 14. Cf. Pius XII, encycl. letter _Fidei Donum_, 21 Apr. 1957: AAS 49 (1957) p. 27. Cf. also Benedict XV, apost. letter _Maximum Illud_, 30 Nov. 1919: AAS 11 (1919) p. 440; Pius XI, encycl. letter _Rerum Ecclesiae_, 28 Feb. 1926: AAs 18 (1926) pp. 68 ff.

churches, since they too form part of the one Church of Christ. Let it be their care also to give help according to their resources when other dioceses or regions are afflicted by disaster. (See D. _46_, 1-5.)

7. Above all, they should extend their brotherly care to those bishops who are harassed by calumny and hardship for the name of Christ, who are detained in prison or prevented from exercising their ministry. They should manifest an active fraternal interest in them so that their sufferings may be lessened and alleviated by the prayers and works of their brethren.