La Libertà dei Fedeli Laici nelle Realtà Temporali (C. 227 C.I.C.) by Stephano Mazzotti (review)

(e.g., pp. 241–243). In presenting the different levels and kinds of magisterium , he reduces the description of the bishops as authentic teachers in LG 25, to a category of the content of magisterial teaching (p. 92). In the main body of the text, the author misconstrues the nature of the hierarchy of truths (p. 246), while setting it forth correctly in a footnote (n. 81, p. 269). He broadens the list of sacred disciplines beyond the usual (p. 80). He uses the words imprimatur and nihil obstat in speaking of the permission or approval to publish (p. 171). In discussing the mandatum for theologians, no reference is made to the document on this topic published by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2001. This is not an easy book to read, especially because of the copious and lengthy footnotes. A revision would require substantial editing. However , it contains excellent indexes of names and subjects, so it can serve as a valuable reference for canonists and theologians seeking what various authors have written on a particular topic. John J. Strynkowski St. James Cathedral Diocese of Brooklyn Brooklyn, NewYork LA LIBERTÀ DEI FEDELI LAICI NELLE REALTÀ TEMPORALI (C. 227 C.I.C.) by Stephano Mazzotti. Roma: Editrice Pontificia Universit à Gregoriana, 2007. The present study is the seventy-eighth doctoral disseration in the series of publications begun in 1995 by the Pontifical Gregorian University . The author, a priest of the Terni-Narni-Amelia Diocese, presently serves in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See as secretary to the Nunciature in the Philippines. Mazzotti begins by describing the evolution of the historicaltheological relationship between the Church and the world from the beginning until its culmination in the Second Vatican Council. Only gradually did the identification of the laity with the world become apparent, since the assumption at the beginning of the council was that the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, was organized as a hierarchical structure. Clerics were sharply distinguished from the non-ordained, the laity. Only in the second session of the council does a more communitarian vision of 500 the jurist Church emerge. The relationship of the laity to the world is gradually seen as a co-responsibility for mission, ultimately including all the baptized , the People of God, in varying degrees. The vocation of the lay person , as opposed to that of the ordained and religious, is to sanctify the world from within.At the same time, the lay person is a sign of the world in the Church, so that the dialogue between Church and world is not simply a theological and intellectual exercise. In the second chapter Mazzotti lists the rights and duties of the lay faithful enumerated in the code. He notes that the code does not define these rights as being fundamental because of the limits placed on their exercise and because of the significance of communion. Within these limits and with communion as an indispensable basis, Mazzotti proceeds to the elucidation of canon 227. In chapter three he traces the evolution of canon 227 through the development of the conciliar teachings, e.g., the Church as the People of God, hierarchical authority seen as service, and the Church as communion .All the members of the Church in accord with their proper roles exercise the triple office of Christ as priest, prophet and king. Mazzotti makes the distinction between lay people and clerics in chapter four based on the hierarchical structure of the Church founded on the Apostles and instituted by Christ himself. He explicates the rights and obligations of all Christ’s faithful, stemming from their baptismal incorporation and according to their particular function. He describes in great detail the discussions by the members of the code commission as they developed what would result in the canons of Book II, Titles 1 & 2, based on the premises of the four initial canons of Part I. Mazzotti concludes by noting that canon 227 is a decisive recognition by the Church of the right of the lay faithful to the free exercise of temporal activity. The means by which to avoid conflicts between hierarchical interventions and the temporal freedom of the laity would seem to...