Catholic Church. Rota Romana

From the earliest days of the Church judicial problems and reserved cases were referred to Rome for solution. By the end of the twelfth century this continual and ever-increasing flood of requests became too burdensome for the Consistory of Cardinals. The popes, therefore, began to refer cases to members of the papal household who were called cappellani papae. This group, which was dependent on the Apostolic Chancery (ID VATV032-A), seems to be the antecedent, if not the origin of the Roman Rota. Because the cappellani "heard" the cases they began to be called auditores (auditors), the title still given to judges of the Rota.

At first the auditors merely heard the cases, gathered the evidence, submitted their opinions, and then referred them to the pope for decision. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was the first to give the auditors the power, in certain cases, to render decisions themselves, although he still reserved confirmation of the decision to himself. His successors extended this concession. After Gregory X (1271-1276), the popes rarely intervened in judicial cases. During the pontificate of Nicholas IV (1288-1292), five auditors handled the cases. A half-century later, however, the number had increased to twenty-one, but there was not yet any diversity of function.

These auditors constituted a college called Auditores Causarum Sacri Palatii Apostolici. Nicholas appointed some of them to take charge of civil suits for the Papal States; Clement V (1305-1314) established an independent court for ecclesiastical cases. These two were later merged into one.

John XXII (constitution Ratio iuris, Nov. 16, 1331) stabilized the group as an organization and gave them, as an ordinary power of their office, the faculty of rendering decisions. With the constitutions Ad regimen (Jan. 10, 1335) and Cum sint accepimus (Oct. 1, 1335), Benedict XII located the tribunal in the papal palace at Avignon separating the members from the other cappellani. The tribunal continued to acquire ever greater functions not only by the actual extension of its powers but also by virtue of the expert opinions of its judgments. Because of this reputation it began to assume also the position of counselor of the pope.

Martin V (constitution In apostolicae dignitatis, Sept. 1, 1418) imposed the obligation of an oath on the auditors; listed the qualities expected of them; decreed that their decisions should conform with canonical and civil legislation; stated auditors were to be financially independent; and specified norms for exercising office in the tribunal. The official name Rota had appeared for the first time in 1337 in the decision of the auditor Tommaso Fastolf (or Fastoli), but Martin V was the first to use the term in an official document (constitution Romani Pontificis, Feb. 1424). With the constitution Statuimus (Apr. 7, 1421) and the above-mentioned Romani Pontificis, Martin called for new procedural rules and determined precisely the duties and rights of the notaries.

Later on, the Rota was distinguished by the addition of Sacra to its title, indicating it as a tribunal of the pope, and Romana to differentiate it from all the other rotal institutes. Under the pontificate of Sixtus IV the number of auditors was fixed at twelve (constitution Romani Pontificis, May 14, 1472). This number remained constant until the suspension of the tribunal in 1870, when all its authority over civil cases was withdrawn.

Under Innocent VIII (constitution Finem litibus, Jan. 10, 1488), authority for treating civil cases was given to Rota members. Innocent also prescribed the order and form of rotary judgments to obtain greater expediency in the handling of cases.

Clement VII (constitution Convenit aequitati, Aug. 15, 1525) gave greater privileges to Rota members. These were later confirmed by Paul III (constitution Romani Pontificis, Aug. 17, 1537). Pius IV (constitution In throno iustitiae, Dec. 27, 1561) extended the authority of the Rota to the entire Catholic world in order to answer once and for all those who questioned the broad function of the Rota. Pius IV's constitution Dudum siquidem (Jul. 27, 1562) decreed that the Rota could omit some of its formalities and make judgments in a more summary way provided that the cases would not prejudice decisions or harm others.

To reaffirm the importance of the Rota in the face of the increasing development of the Roman Congregations, Paul V extended its authority to benefices and marriage cases as well as to the processes for beatifications and canonizations (constitution Universi agri dominici, Mar. 1, 1612).

Benedict XIV (constitution Iustitiae et pacis, Oct. 9 1746) redefined the Rota's jurisdiction listing the cases falling within its authority: beatifications and canonizations; nullity of religious profession and dispensation from Holy Orders; contentious civil, ecclesiastical, and lay cases; benefices and marriage cases arising from the lower tribunals for which the Rota came to assume almost the nature of a tribune of appeal.

In 1814, after almost twenty years of absolute inactivity caused by the political problems of the Papal States, the Roman Rota was reactivited by Pius VII. With an edict of 1821 he also assigned to it the faculty of treating in appeal commercial cases of the Papal States. This function was modified, however, by Gregory XVI's Regolamento legislativo e giudiziario par gli affari civili issued in the form of a motu proprio (Elevati appena, Nov. 10, 1834).

After the dissolution of the Papal States in 1870, the Rota ceased to function (suppression ordered by rotal decision, Oct. 27, 1870, n. 5975). Their cases were transferred to the various Roman Congregations deemed most appropriate to specific functions. Leo XIII returned limited authority to the Rota in 1878 and gave it two specific tasks: (1) that of judging on the legality of the ordinary and apostolic processes on the virtues and validity of the Servants of God (Oct. 23, 1878); and (2) that of examining and resolving the doubts of "non cult and of reputation in kind of the Servants of God" (Dec. 19, 1895).

Pius X's Sapienti consilio (Jun. 29, 1908) called for a complete reorganization of the entire Roman Curia. The Lex propria accompanying the reorganization laid down certain judicial rules of a general nature for the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, restoring it to its former dignity and prestige. However, even though it appeared that the Rota had reassumed all of its ancient appearance, this document designated the beginning of new life for the tribunal. These regulations were approved on an experimental basis by Pius X on September 7, 1909, and given final approval on August 2, 1910. The 1917 Code of Canon Law confirmed these regulations in substance.

The organization of the Roman Rota is now actually directed by the Normae Sacrae Romanae Rotae of the tribunal issued on September 1, 1934, under the pontificate of Pius XI. This document, containing 185 articles, aimed to unify all previous legislation relative to the Roman Rota, supplanting the regulations approved by Pius X on August 2, 1910.

Paul VI's Regimini Ecclesiae Universae (Aug. 15, 1967) states that the Roman Rota was to be governed by its own rules but noted that the authority of the Rota over cases of marriage nullity was also to be extended to cases involving a Catholic and a non-Catholic party, or involving two non-Catholic parties, whether one or both of the baptized parties belong to the Latin rite or to an Eastern rite. Doctrinal questions touching on faith, however, were to be left to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Some new norms were approved by John Paul II in 1982 and again in 1987.

Today the Roman Rota is no longer a supreme tribunal but is subordinate to the Apostolic Signatura (ID VATV027-A) and is in effect a tribunal of appeal. However, it is also the tribunal of first instance in cases which are reserved to the Holy See or which the pope has reserved for himself by means of a special rescript of the Apostolic Signature (1917 Code: can. 1603, no. 2). It is still regulated by the Normae Sacrae Romanae Rotae approved by Pius XI on 22 Jun 1934. Since it is a tribunal of the Holy See, the Roman Rota has no territorial limits in its authority. Even though most of the decisions it has rendered have been in matrimonial cases, it can and does hear all types of ecclesiastical cases, even criminal ones. Some cases, however, are withdrawn from its authority by law.

Since 1929, the Rota has also served as a court of appeals for the state of Vatican City.

The Rota also conducts a Rota Studium (ID VATV031-A), founded in 1909 to train advocates, clerical and lay, for the Rota; the courses may also be followed by other clerical students. Pius XII reorganized the Studium to meet contemporary needs with his decree Nihil antiquius )8 Jun 1945).

To see a general agency history for the Curia Romana, enter "FIN ID VATV214-A". For a general agency history of Vatican City, enter "FIN ID VATV881-A