POSITIO. - It is the written document in which a fact is set forth and asserted before an authority.
In ancient law, the term p. denoted the de plano exposition of the contested fact drawn up before the judge by one of the contending parties. The positiones differed from interrogatories only in form (cf. Tractatus illustrium in utroque Pontificii, tum Caesarei iuris facultate, iurisconsultorum, de probabionibus, IV, Venice 1584, pp. 2-12; C. Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, s. v., VI, Paris 1938, p. 429). Among theologians, p. is synonymous with thesis.
In the language of the Curia, the word p. denotes the file relating to a particular case in which, besides the petition or the statement (which will receive the various office endorsements) and the documentation presented by the party or parties concerned, there are often collected the votes of the consultors and the reports of the officials charged with studying the question. In cases where the case must be discussed in a "congregation," the p. is printed and then takes various names depending on the congregations, tribunals or offices that make it public. The term p. has been used especially since its origins by the S. Congr. of Rites, for the handling both of causes of beatification and canonization and of the more important questions relating to its specific competence, which must be discussed before the cardinals, prelates and consultors. For causes of beatification and canonization, the following positiones, often of great bulk, are prepared and printed: super introductione causae; super revisione scriptorum (in complex cases); super non cultu; super validitate processum; super virtutibus or super martyrio (nova, novissima, depending on the various congregations required for the discussion of the cause); super miraculis (nova, novissima, as above); super dubio an tuto procedi possit ad beatificationem o canonizationem; super reassumptione causae (for canonization). For the confirmation of cult, the p. confirmationis cultus ab immemorabili tempore praestiti... is prepared; for the extension to the whole Church of the Office and Mass, the p. extensionis seu concessionis Officii et Missae ad universam Ecclesiam in honorem...; for the normal concession of the Office and Mass and the inscription of the elogium in the Martyrology, the p. concessionis et approbationis Officii et Missae (sometimes with the addition: et elogii Martirologio inscribendi) in honorem... instantibus... If the p. is drawn up by one of the sections of the S. Congr., to the above-mentioned titles is added the notice of its compilation ex officio; the positiones prepared by the Historical Section are always ex officio.
In general the p. consists of the following parts: 1) the informatio of the patron; 2) the summarium with the procedural acts and the documenta acquired for the cause; 3) depending on the stage at which the cause finds itself: the vota of the theologian censors (for the writings) or of the experts (for the miracles); sometimes peculiares inquisitiones (historical research, votes of consultors, etc.), the postulatory letters; the decrees already issued; 4) the animadversiones of the promoter of the Faith; 5) the responsio of the patron. On the frontispiece of the p. are indicated the name of the cardinal ponens or relator, the title of the cause, that is, the name of the diocese or ecclesiastical circumscription to which the cause belongs, and the specific object of the p. with one of the above-mentioned titles.
The norms for the compilation of the p. are contained in cann. 2106, 2109, 2113, 2121, 2122 of the CIC and in the instruction published by the S. Congr. on 2 Oct. 1935, renewed and updated on 8 Jan. 1943.