The Right of Bishops-Emeriti for a Place of Residence in the Diocese

Abstract

It is natural for most human beings to experience a kind of vacuum of power upon retiring from the position or authority of administration. It is also true with a bishop emeritus as a human being. He may still undergo an experience of loss of his pastoral office. This psychological state of a bishop emeritus could be accentuated if he – on the acceptance of his resignation from his pastoral office – cannot avail of a suitable ‘place of residence’ for him in the diocese he foliated last. It is high time for the episcopal conferences – as indicated in Christus Dominus, 21, Ecclesiae Sanctae I, 11 and in CIC c. 402 and CCEO c. 211   – to study the issue of appropriate support for a bishop emeritus