UnderPope Pius XII, there were the several reforms ofCatholic Eastern canon law applying to theEastern Catholic Churches.
A commission was established in 1929 by Pius XI to draw up a schema for an Oriental Catholic canon code,[1][2] theCommissionem Cardinalitiam pro Studiis Praeparatoriis Codificationis Orientalis.[3] In 1935, the same pope established another commission with the same goal, thePontificia Commissio ad redigendum Codicem iuris canonici orientalis, to replace the former.[4]
The Eastern Catholic Churches, not unlike theLatin Church before theCode of 1917, had their own ancient laws, which were notcodified. Some reforms of Eastern Church laws for the Eastern Churches were done during the pontificate of Pius XII. The new Churchcanons promulgated by Pius XII for the government of the Eastern Catholic Churches concern matrimonial law,[5] Church trials,[6] administration of Church properties and religious orders[7] and individual rights.[8]
AfterWorld War II, a new situation developed as millions of united Christians fromEastern Europe and theMiddle East emigrated tothe West: United States,Western Europe, Canada,South America, and Australia. The new Church law was welcomed, yet in some points, it was critiqued, for not fully adopting to these new Western circumstances. Traditionally, Eastern Christians insisted on legal exemptions, allowing them to keep most of the ancient customs and laws.[9]
Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclicalMystici Corporis Christi those reforms were intended to establish Eastern Catholics as equal parts of theCatholic Church.[10]
These individualcanon law reforms ofPope Pius XII were revised in 1991. TheCode of Canons of the Eastern Churches for members of theEastern Catholic Churches were promulgated on 18 October 1990 byPope John Paul II andcame into effect on 1 October 1991.[11]
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