ABSTRACT

With the Motu Proprio of 8 August 2023, Pope Francis modified cann. 295-296 CIC relating to personal Prelatures. To attempt to understand the nature of this provision, it seemed appropriate to retrace the history of this canonical institute, from its first appearance in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, through the subsequent Pontifical documents and, in particular, during the work that resulted in the 1983 Code. Precisely in this context, we can rediscover the debate and reflections that gave rise to the configuration of the personal Prelature, as presented in the current Code. Attention is also paid to the legislation of the only existing personal Prelature, Opus Dei, reading the history of its erection in parallel to that which led to the 1983 Code. At the end of this study, it will be shown how the most recent Motu Proprio is in continuity with the juridical development of the personal Prelatures from the Council to the Code, indeed acting as a natural completion, and how Opus Dei corresponds to the configuration of the personal Prelature according to the Code.