DIOCESAN ASSOCIATIONS. - In France the law of 9 Dec. 1905, by denying legal personality to all ecclesiastical bodies, and therefore patrimonial capacity, replaced them with a single new type of body, the cultual association (association cultuelle), having limited patrimonial capacity (among other things, associations formed within one year were to collect the patrimony of the suppressed ecclesiastical bodies), but ample powers, within the scope of their respective district, for everything concerning the exercise of worship.
The condemnation by the Holy See (encyclical Vehementer nos, 11 Feb. 1906; encyclical Gravissimo officio, 10 Aug. 1906) and the unanimous opposition of French Catholics induced the legislator to temper the rigors of the law of 1905, permitting the public exercise of worship even without the cultual association, and leaving to the faithful and to the ministers of worship, where the cultual association was lacking, the availability of the sacred buildings (law of 2 Jan. 1907).
Once relations between France and the Holy See had improved during the war of 1914-18, and diplomatic relations had been reestablished in 1921, unofficial negotiations were begun to regulate the condition of the Church in France. But meanwhile the question of the cultual associations was resolved by the bishop of Nice, who proposed the establishment, on the basis of the French law of 1901 on associations, of a new type of body, the diocesan association, by whose statute the preponderance of the bishop in the activity of the association and respect for the exclusive competence of the Church regarding the exercise of worship would be assured. Since the plan was recognized as conforming to the principles of canon law by the other French bishops and by the Holy See, and as conforming to French laws first by a commission of jurists appointed by the president of the Council (opinions of 7 Apr. and 8 Dec. 1923), and then also by the Council of State (opinion of 13 Dec. 1923), Pope Pius XI (encyclical Maximam gravissimamque, 18 Jan. 1924) approved the Statute of the new associations, also explaining how the reasons that had determined the condemnation of the cultual associations did not apply to these.
For while the latter had, among their aims, also that of providing for the public exercise of worship, the diocesan associations (with whose establishment there now exists only one ecclesiastical body, civilly recognized, in each diocese of France) have as their purpose "to provide for the expenses and the maintenance of worship, under the authority of the bishop, in communion with the Holy See, and in conformity with the constitution of the Church" (art. 2 of the Statute), and any "interference in the organization of divine service, in the spiritual administration of the diocese, in particular in the appointments and transfers of members of the clergy, as well as in the direction, teaching, and spiritual administration of the seminaries" is expressly forbidden to them (art. 4). Moreover, the association cannot be constituted without the consent of the bishop, who is its president by right (art. 30).
The diocesan association falls into the same category as the declared associations (acquisition of legal personality by declaration to the prefecture) and has the legal capacity belonging to the cultual associations. Changes in French legislation on this matter were introduced in a sense favorable to the Church in 1942; but it is not yet possible to know what their fate will be.
Bibliography2 works
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