St. Pius X Reformer of Canon Law

A new book, The Roman Church and Political Modernity, by ecclesiastical historian, Carlo Fantappié, explores the legal genius of the great anti-modernist pope in his defense of the liberty of the Church and his bringing her up to date as a governing institution both in her internal polity and in relation to the secular powers.

Here is the opening of an excellent book review by Gianpaolo Romanato:

“The study that Carlo Fantappiè, professor of canon law at the University of Urbino, has just released with the publisher Giuffrè – “Chiesa romana e modernità giuridica [The Roman Church and juridical modernity]” – represents a scholarly achievement that does not concern only the students of law, but also historians of the Church and of Christianity.

“In the two volumes of this truly imposing work, of almost 1300 pages, the author demonstrates that the Code of Canon Law mandated by Pius X and promulgated by Benedict XV in 1917 was much more than a technical work of the reorganization and simplification of juridical norms.

“It was in reality a profound reflection on the past, on the present, and on the future of the Church of Rome, and directed to a plan for Church reform within which law was the means, not the end.”

Read full Chiesa News article by Sandro Magister here: