CONFERENCES
In addition to general and particular councils and properly so-called diocesan synods, which are the most public and solemn assemblies par excellence within ecclesiastical order, other periodic meetings of the clergy are envisaged, which are less public and solemn and serve consultative and professional didactic purposes. These include forane or vicarial conferences and episcopal conferences (cf. cann. 131, 591, 292).
### I. Forane or Vicarial Conferences
These are periodic gatherings of clergy, which must be held several times a year, in the diocesan seat and in each vicariate, to discuss moral and liturgical topics. The Ordinary may add themes for exercise on other theological disciplines, such as dogmatics, Holy Scripture, and canon law (cf. cann. 131). They are also called congregations, moral conferences, pastoral conferences, or conferences on cases of conscience.
The practice of such meetings dates back to a rather early period. St. Basil the Great (d. 379) mentions them in a letter to Chiloene. In the West, however, the first traces of the institution appear only in the 9th century in some dioceses of southern France, among the rural clergy. Incarnatus of Reims regulated these meetings with the first laws. In the 10th century, this practice, while becoming more frequent in France, was also adopted by some dioceses in England, Germany, and Italy. It cannot be said, however, that such meetings exactly reproduced the modern clergy conferences, since they were in fact true local synods that exercised legislative and judicial power, regulated public penance, and imposed canonical penalties on clergy and laity.
The institution and first organization of clergy conferences in the modern sense is due to two of the most distinguished champions of the Counter-Reformation in the 16th century: Matteo Giberti, Bishop of Verona, and St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan. Giberti had established them in his diocese even before the Council of Trent and regulated their functioning in his *Constitutions* (book I, chap. 23). Following his example, of whom he was a great admirer, St. Charles introduced them in his archdiocese at the provincial council of Milan in 1565, enhancing their development and completing their organization. To this end, he divided the archdiocese into several territorial districts, each presided over by a forane vicar with the duty of presiding over monthly meetings and rendering him an exact account.
The institution, encouraged by councils and warmly recommended by the popes, quickly spread widely in Italy and beyond. By the 18th century, it could already be considered general in Europe. It was introduced in the two Americas at the beginning of the following century. By the time the *Codex Iuris Canonici* came into force, it was already effectively established in universal practice. Canon 131 of the *CIC* made it universal in law, incorporating it into the general order of the Church.
**
### II. Episcopal Conferences
Under this designation are understood the periodic meetings to which bishops of the same ecclesiastical province, or, in the case of Italy, of the same conciliar region, are bound at least every five years. The purpose is to consult together on measures to be adopted to promote, by common agreement, the good of religion in each diocese, to harmonize a common line of conduct in special circumstances that may arise, and to prepare for the future provincial council (cf. can. 292).
The *CIC* establishes a new right in this matter by introducing the obligation of episcopal conferences into general law and prescribing them for provincial jurisdictions. The use of these conferences, however, even if in the form of national or at most regional meetings, predated the codification and was already fairly common in the practice of many nations. Episcopal conferences arose and became established spontaneously as a substitute for councils, as these became rarer, due to the need felt by bishops in various countries to coordinate their pastoral initiatives more frequently outside the solemnity of councils themselves. The favorable attitude of the supreme pontiffs contributed greatly to their development; they not only unconditionally approved and praised the initiative but strongly recommended it, as is evident from official sources, so that it might be introduced in those countries where it did not yet exist. Although examples of episcopal conferences can be found in isolation even in earlier periods, a fairly uniform and consistent practice in this regard is encountered only at the beginning of the 19th century, in Europe, the Americas, and Australia. By making them obligatory every five years for provincial jurisdictions, the canonical legislator intended to meet the request already presented at the Vatican Council to shorten the term for the periodic convocation of the provincial council to five years.
Episcopal conferences are prepared, convoked, and presided over by the metropolitan, or, in his absence, by the most senior suffragan bishop. All those who are obliged to attend the provincial council must participate in them after being convoked. They serve as a link between one provincial council and another, of which they supplement a more frequent convocation and reproduce certain aspects and formalities. Juridically, however, they are not councils: they take the form of friendly meetings with a purely consultative character, and their deliberations do not assume the nature of conciliar statutes but rather of simple agreements that each participant commits to carry out as if they had been deliberated on their own initiative for their own territory.
The legislator foresees the possibility of particular law for individual places (cf. can. 292 § 1). In Italy, for example, the decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation of March 22, 1919, which prescribes annual episcopal conferences not for provinces but for conciliar regions, is still in force (cf. decree of the same Congregation, Feb. 15, 1919). Indeed, by a subsequent decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, June 21, 1932, their deliberations must be officially transmitted to the Holy See, which later communicates any observations and decisions (cf. AAS, 11 (1919), p. 175; 24 (1932), p. 242 sq.).
**