Good ecclesiastical governance takes time, writes Hugh Somerville Knapman OSB
FOUR APOSTOLIC LETTERS have already appeared this year; in 2021 there were eight, in 2020 five, and in 2019 another eight. In a pontificate now into its tenth year, Pope Francis has issued a total of 49; Benedict XVI issued 13 in eight years, and St John Paul II issued 31 in almost 27 years. Generally, letters such as these—issued motu proprio, “by personal, or particular, initiative”—are a legal instrument by which a pontiff enacts or changes a piece of canon or administrative law.
