Roman Rota
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The "Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota" (in Latin, "Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae"), for hundreds of years also called the Sacred Roman Rota,[1] is the highest appellate tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church, with respect to the vast majority of its Latin Rite members[2] and several of the Eastern Catholic Churches[3] and is the second highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See.[4] The Catholic Church has a complete legal system, which is the oldest legal system still in use today. The court is named Rota (wheel) because the judges, called auditors, originally met in a round room to hear cases.[5]
The Rota adjudicates cases in a panel (called a turnus) of three auditors assigned by the dean of the tribunal, though sometimes a larger number of auditors are assigned to a particular case.[6] The Pope appoints the Rota's auditors,[7] whose decisions are written in Latin,[8] and also designates the tribunal's dean.[9] The current Dean of the Roman Rota is Most Rev. Antoni Stankiewicz, who has served in this capacity since 31 January 2004.
The Rota's main function is that of a third instance appellate tribunal, ordinarily reviewing decisions of lower courts if the original court and the first appellate court do not agree on the outcome of a case, however, any party to a first instance decision (trial level court case) has the right to file an appeal directly to the Rota. Dominating its case load are petitions seeking the issuance of a decree of Nullity, or annulment, although it has jurisdiction to hear any other type of judicial and non-administrative case in any area of canon law. In certain instances, the Rota has exclusive original jurisdiction, such as any contentious case in which a bishop is a defendant. If the case can still be appealed after reaching the Rota, the appeal goes to a different turnus, or panel, of the Rota.
The Rota is the highest appeals court, but it is not the highest court. If the Rota issues an invalid judgment, the judgment can be vacated before the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court of the Roman Catholic Church operating with judicial independence from the Pope himself. However, the legal powers of the Rota, not the merits of the case, are on trial before the Signatura: the Signatura is only able to grant the petitioner a new trial to be held before a new Turnus of the Rota, if the Rota was found to have erred in procedure ("de procedendo").
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[edit] Auditors of the Rota
The active auditors of the Rota, with their dates of appointment by the Roman Pontiff, are the following:
- Most Rev. Antoni Stankiewicz (Dean) (14 February 1978)
- Rev. Msgr. Jose Maria Serrano Ruiz (25 March 1970)
- Rev. Msgr. Kenneth Boccafola (3 April 1986)
- Rev. Msgr. Josef Huber (5 December 1992)
- Rev. Msgr. Giovanni Battista DeFilippi (20 December 1993)
- Rev. Msgr. Robert M. Sable (6 June 1993)
- Rev. Msgr. Egidio Turnaturi (9 June 1994)
- Rev. Msgr. Maurice Monier (9 January 1995)
- Rev. Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto (25 March 1995)
- Rev. Msgr. Hanna Alwan (4 March 1996)
- Rev. Msgr. Giordano Caberletti (12 November 1996)
- Rev. Msgr. Angelo Bruno Bottone (4 November 1997)
- Rev. Msgr. Grzegorz Erlebach (4 November 1997)
- Rev. Msgr. Americo Ciani (8 February 1999)
- Rev. Msgr. Jair Ferreira Pena (8 February 1999)
- Rev. Msgr. Giuseppe Sciacca (25 March 1999)
- Rev. Msgr. Giovanni Verginelli (28 March 2000)
- Rev. Msgr. Agostino De Angelis (23 April 2001)
- Rev. Msgr. Gerard McKay (8 June 2004)
- Rev. Msgr. Abdou Yaacoub (15 November 2004)
- Rev. Msgr. Michael Xavier Leo Arokiaraj
[edit] Officers of the Rota
- Rev. Sebastiano M. Paciolla, O. Cist. (Promotor of Justice)
- Rev. Msgr. Nabih Moawad (Promotor of Justice)
- Rev. Msgr. Giovanni Vaccarotto (Defender of the Bond)
- Rev. Msgr. Pius Eheobu Okpaloka (Defender of the Bond)
- Rev. Alessandro Perego (Defender of the Bond)
- Rev. Vito Angelo Todisco (Defender of the Bond)
- Rev. Msgr. Antonio Bartolacci (Head of the Chancery)
[edit] Notes
- ^ The 1995 Annuario Pontificio dropped the use of the adjective "Sacred" not only for the Roman Rota but also for all the Congregations, which previously were known as Sacred Congregations.
- ^ Codex Iuris Canonici [CIC] canons 1443, 1444.
- ^ Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium [CCEO] canon 1065.
- ^ See John Paul II, ap. con. Pastor Bonus art. 121, 80 Acta Apostolicae Sedis 841 (1988) (noting that the Apostolic Signatura is the supreme tribunal).
- ^ Edward Peters, Canon Law—Canonistics—Rota Background, http://www.canonlaw.info/personal_rotademo.htm (updated 21 October 2006).
- ^ Canon L. Socy. Gr. Brit. & Ir., The Canon Law Letter and Spirit: A Practical Guide to the Code of Canon Law ¶ 2907, at 837 (Gerard Sheehy et al. eds., Liturgical Press 1995).
- ^ Pastor Bonus art. 127.
- ^ See id. art. 16 (noting that Latin is the official language of the curia).
- ^ Id. art. 127.
