PONTIFICAL COMMISSIONS. — From their very name it is understood that by means of these commissions the Supreme Pontiff entrusts certain special tasks, concerning activities proper to the Church, to persons who are experts in the matter.
There are various pontifical commissions, which, because they depend immediately upon the person of the Pope, are adorned with the title “pontifical.” The most important of these are enumerated here.
I. PONTIFICAL COMMISSION OF SACRED ARCHAEOLOGY
Pius IX established a special Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology on 6 January 1852, granting it the necessary faculties for the secure protection and oversight of the cemeteries and ancient Christian buildings of Rome and the Papal States, for the systematic and scientific excavation and exploration of these cemeteries, and for the preservation and custody of whatever might be discovered through excavations and works.Pius XI, with the motu proprio of 11 December 1925 (AAS, 17 [1925], p. 619), expanded and strengthened the Pontifical Commission by the active participation of additional members drawn from various regions and nations, who would contribute valuable studies and multiply the means and purposes for which it was established. Moreover, he confirmed the exclusive right of the Pontifical Commission to protect and oversee the cemeteries and ancient Christian buildings of Rome and its suburbs, as well as their excavation and exploration. The Pontifical Commission publishes a special journal to bring the results of excavations and the illustration of the cemeteries and monuments of subterranean Rome to public knowledge. It is composed of a president (who is the Cardinal Vicar of Rome), who, with papal approval, appoints a vice-president; effective commissioners, among whom the Pope appoints the secretary of the Pontifical Commission (the Papal Sacristan is ex officio an effective commissioner); and corresponding commissioners, all appointed by the Pope. It is divided into four sections: worship, administration, direction of excavations, and official publications.
By virtue of the Lateran Pacts, its authority was extended to “the catacombs existing in the soil of Rome and in other parts of the territory of the Kingdom” (Article 33 of the Concordat). Guglielmo Felici
II. PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION (Pontificia Commissio de re biblica)
An organ of the ecclesiastical Magisterium that promotes and directs biblical studies. It was established by Leo XIII with the apostolic letter Vigilantiae of 30 October 1902 (Acta Sanctae Sedis, 35 [1902–1903], pp. 234–238). The spread of excessive biblical criticism, which had even insinuated itself into the Catholic sphere, suggested to the Pope the idea of such an institute, to which he assigned a threefold task: 1) to effectively promote biblical study among Catholics, taking advantage of the convincing results obtained by the most recent research; 2) to defend, with the weapons of sound and wise criticism, the sacred interests of Holy Scripture; 3) to resolve with acuteness and discretion the questions and problems that arise.The Biblical Commission is composed of a certain number of cardinals (currently five), consultors (about thirty to forty), and a secretary, who presides over the meetings of the consultors and handles the affairs of the Commission. The seat of the Biblical Commission, previously in the palace of the Holy Office, is now in the Vatican palaces. According to the report of 15 February 1909, the official organ of the Commission’s publications is the AAS (previously it was the Revue biblique). Pius X granted the Commission on 23 February 1904 the right to confer academic degrees in Sacred Scripture (Scripturae Sanctae: Acta Sanctae Sedis, 36 [1903–1904], pp. 530–32). The examination program, first established in 1905 (ibid., 37 [1905], pp. 126–29), found its definitive form in 1911 with a notable expansion of subjects (AAS, 3 [1911], pp. 47–50; 296–300; cf. also the supplement in AAS, 19 [1927], p. 160). With the apostolic letter Cum Biblia Sacra of 15 August 1916, Benedict XV subordinated the Biblical Institute and the Commission for the Restored Vulgate in a certain manner to the Biblical Commission; Pius XI, with a motu proprio of 30 September 1928, granted the Biblical Institute absolute independence.
Leo XIII and Pius X had granted the Biblical Commission broad competencies regarding emerging questions and controversies provoked by modern biblical criticism.
From 13 February 1905 to 17 November 1921, the Biblical Commission issued fourteen decrees (decisions) and two declarations in the form of responses to questions or doubts raised, collected in the Enchiridion biblicum, Rome 1927. Under Pius XI, up to 30 April 1934, two further decrees were issued: in all, eighteen.
While until then the documents issued by the Biblical Commission were of a rather negative character, marking the limits within which Catholic exegesis must be contained, and addressed particular points within the vast biblical field, from 1940 onwards they have been rather of a positive nature, embracing the entire biblical field, providing general norms for the study and interpretation of the Sacred Books and strongly encouraging biblical studies in their entirety.
Consequently, the form of these recent documents is essentially distinct from that of the preceding ones. They are presented in the form of treatises or instructions, or as commentaries on disputed questions. Thus, the letter to the archbishops and bishops of Italy of 20 August 1941 (AAS, 33 [1941], pp. 465–72) and the letter to Cardinal Suhard of Paris of 16 January 1948 (AAS, 40 [1948], pp. 45–48).
III. PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR THE REDACTION OF THE CODE OF CANON LAW OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES
Pius XI, considering that the preparatory work for the drafting of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches, which had been entrusted to a cardinalatial commission, was completed; that the observations of the Eastern Ordinaries on the drafts of the canons had already been received; and that various volumes of the sources had already been published, determined that the definitive codification of Eastern canon law should proceed. On 17 July 1935 (v. the notification of the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Church, in AAS, 27 [1935], p. 306), he established a Pontifical Commission composed of several cardinals, a secretary, and various consultors, which was to examine the aforementioned observations of the Eastern Ordinaries, determine the text of the canons, and provide for the drafting of the Code. It would then send the individual titles and books, as drafted by it, to the Eastern Ordinaries for their votes, and, having received these, proceed to the definitive drafting of the Code.The Commission (like the preparatory one) is publishing the material used for the codification in the imposing collection of sources of Eastern canon law codification (of which thirty-three volumes have so far been published). In this collection, enriched by important studies and monographs, the sources of Eastern canon law are found, arranged according to the various rites, some of which are unpublished or difficult to obtain.
IV. PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR RUSSIA
Pius XI established on 20 June 1925 (v. the communiqué of the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Church in AAS, 18 [1926], p. 62) within the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Church a Commission for Russia, with competence over all questions or causes concerning the Russians.In 1930 (6 April), considering the ever-growing development of this Congregation and the ever-increasing care required by the conditions and cause of the Russians, with the motu proprio *Inde ab initio* (AAS, 22 [1930], p. 153) Pius XI detached the P. C. from the Sacred Congregation (though not excluding between the two bonds of work and mutual assistance). The same Pius XI, with the motu proprio *Quam sollicite* (AAS, 27 [1935], p. 65), on 21 December 1934, established that only matters and causes concerning Russians residing in their homeland should be reserved and assigned to the P. C., and that it, on account of its importance, should be attached to the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, with the Secretary of this Congregation serving as its president. In addition to the president, it is composed of three other members. The same motu proprio stipulates that Russian refugees, who previously had been subject to the P. C., should now be subject to a special “section” of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church.
V. P. C. OF ASSISTANCE. — Pius XII, in an audience on 22 January 1945, established the P. C. of Assistance, uniting within it the P. C. for Refugees, instituted on 18 April 1944, and the P. C. for Assistance to Returnees. On 6 November 1945, by a note from the Secretariat of State, the Supreme Pontiff decreed that the P. C. for the State of the Vatican City should assume the power to issue regulatory norms and exercise the broadest discipline over its personnel, contracts, and other legal and administrative matters within its competence.
COMMODILLA, CEMETERY OF — Fresco with the *Traditio clavium* (6th–7th centuries).
VI. P. C. FOR EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS CINEMATOGRAPHY. — Established by Pius XII in 1948 to examine cinematographic works intended for the illustration of Christian doctrine and the teachings of the Catholic Church, which are subject to review by the Holy See. This P. C. has an international character.
VII. PERMANENT P. C. FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORICAL AND ARTISTIC MONUMENTS OF THE HOLY SEE. — Established by Pius XI in 1923 with the aim of ensuring the preservation of the monuments of the Holy See that possess historical and artistic significance. The most eminent figures in art and culture of the Holy See are called to form part of this Commission, which is presided over by the Major Forerunner.
VIII. HERALDIC COMMISSION FOR THE PONTIFICAL COURT
Created by Benedict XV by a dispatch of the Secretariat of State dated 1 June 1915 to examine, control, and update the lists of the Roman patriciate and nobility for admission and invitations to sacred functions in the Chapel, etc. It is presided over by the Monsignor Majordomo, and the Master of the Papal Chamber is always a member (who currently, in the vacancy of the office of Majordomo, holds its presidency).IX. For other P. C.s:
P. C. FOR THE REVISION AND CORRECTION OF THE VULGATE: V. VULGATE.
P. C. CENTRALE FOR SACRED ART IN ITALY: V. SACRED ART, PONTIFICAL CENTRAL COMMISSION FOR.
P. C. FOR THE AUTHENTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CODE OF CANON LAW: V. CODEX IURIS CANONICI.
P. C. FOR THE STATE OF THE VATICAN CITY: V. VATICAN CITY, STATE OF THE.
For commissions constituted within the Sacred Congregations: V. PONTIFICAL CONGREGATIONS. Guglielmo Felici