''Ecclesiae Sanctae – ''"(Governing) of the Holy Church" – is an apostolic letter or ''

motu proprio In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term '' sua sponte'' for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a d ...

'' issued by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

on August 6, 1966. Paul wrote this letter on how to implement the Vatican Council, especially as regards the conciliar documents ''

Christus Dominus ''Christus Dominus'' (''Christ the Lord''; abbreviation "CD") is the Second Vatican Council's "Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops". The document was approved by a vote of 2,319 to 2 of the assembled bishops and was promulgated by Pope Pa ...

'' (On the Pastoral Office of Bishops), '' Presbyterorum Ordinis'' (On the Life and Ministry of Priests), '' Perfectae Caritatis'' (On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life), and ''Ad Gentes'' (On the Missionary Activity of the Church).

Provisions

An important new regulation announced in this document is the provision that all bishops, archbishops and Curial officials, from October 11, 1966, were deemed to "voluntarily" offer their resignation to the pope on their 75th birthday. With one stroke of the pen, all bishops who were appointed by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...

and a large part of the bishops who were appointed by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

lost their jurisdiction. Four years later, this innovation was followed by the

Ingravescentem aetatem ''Ingravescentem aetatem'' () is a document issued by Pope Paul VI, dated 21 November 1970. It is divided into 8 chapters. The Latin title is taken from the incipit, and translates to "advancing age". It established a rule that only cardinals who ...

'', which excluded cardinals over eighty years of age from participating in a

Papal conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. ...

. Both documents replaced all pre-conciliar documents. Another provision of ''Ecclesiae Sanctae'' encouraged episcopal conferences and patriarchal synods to "enact regulations and publish norms for the bishops in order to obtain a suitable distribution of the clergy," both in their own area and for the benefit of mission countries. Seminarians are to be imbued with a concern for the global mission of the Church, and not only for the mission of their own diocese. An example of implementation of this is the Archdiocese of St. Louis (USA) sending 45 priests to Bolivia over the next 60 years. Vatican II's call for all Catholics to be missionary disciples was advanced further by Paul VI's Apostolic Letter of 1975, '' Evangelii Nuntiandi.'' ''Ecclasiae Sanctae'' in line with the Vatican II decrees required that a council of priests be established and recommended that a pastoral council – of clerics, religious, and laity – also be established. Both are advisory to the bishop and have only a consultative vote.

References

{{reflist Motu proprio of Pope Paul VI