### QUINQUENNIAL REPORT
The obligation to submit a periodic report is inherent in the very nature of a subordinate office, necessary for coordination and for the Superior’s need to remain suitably informed about the administration and the particular situations and needs pertaining to that office. This obligation, with regard to the Holy See, falls upon local Ordinaries and the Superiors of religious institutes. The fulfillment of this duty is now regulated in the Code of Canon Law (can. 340 and 510) with few substantive modifications; in practice, it is facilitated by special questionnaires that, periodically updated, are used by the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia according to their specific competence.
The obligation of local Ordinaries to submit a periodic report on the state of their ecclesiastical jurisdiction is of very ancient origin. It is closely linked to the obligation of the so-called *visita ad limina* (v. LIMINA APOSTOLORUM), conceived as an act of obedience and submission to St. Peter and the Pope. In fact, the Code of Canon Law stipulates that such a report to the Holy See must be submitted by all local Ordinaries every five years (can. 340 § 1), almost simultaneously with the *visita ad limina* (can. 341 § 1).
In principle, this obligation applies only to residential bishops, who must personally or through delegates, at the end of every five-year period, travel to Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles and pay homage to the Pope. Bishops who have taken charge of a diocese within the two-year period in which the time for the quinquennial report would otherwise expire are permitted to refrain from submitting it on that occasion, on the presumption that they have not yet had sufficient time and opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with the diocese.
The obligation is also imposed on Ordinaries of missions (apostolic vicars and prefects, and ecclesiastical superiors of missions: can. 300 § 1), as well as on prelates and abbots *nullius* (can. 323 § 1) and permanent apostolic administrators (can. 315 § 1).
The first dicastery to have its own questionnaire was the Sacred Congregation of the Council. It had been prepared by Prospero Lambertini, later Benedict XIV, when he was secretary of that Congregation. This questionnaire enjoyed widespread use and became customary in the Curia until 1909. In that year, the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory—which, following the reorganization of the Curia by Blessed Pius X, had assumed responsibility for the *visita ad limina* and the reports of local Ordinaries—compiled a new one, whose observance was mandated, and a five-year rotation schedule was established, beginning on January 1, 1911, for the submission of reports. The Code of Canon Law perfected the entire institution. The practice of the Sacred Congregation of the Council was then adopted by other dicasteries. Thus, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda had its own questionnaire as early as 1877 for the reports of Ordinaries of missions, and in 1937 it drew up a special questionnaire for the quinquennial reports of religious institutes dependent on II. Similarly, the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities in 1924 imposed on Ordinaries a triennial report on the state of their respective seminaries, to be compiled using a special questionnaire.
Before 1861, religious were not obliged to submit a report. From that year, following the recommendations of the Commissions for the approval of new institutes, the obligation of a triennial report on the personal, disciplinary, and economic state of individual institutes—preceded by brief historical notes—began to be inserted into their constitutions. The first to fall under this new practice were the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres and the Nazarene Sisters of Châlons-sur-Marne; soon the practice became standard for every category of sisters. Four years later, the obligation was included in the constitutions of the Congregation of the Oratory of Paris, though this remained an exception among male institutes. The Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars in 1906 prescribed, for the sake of uniformity, a special questionnaire for compiling reports, though the obligation still derived only from the constitutions, with the consequence that those religious institutes whose constitutions did not contain such a requirement remained exempt. The first universal law on the matter was can. 510, which imposed the obligation of the quinquennial report, extending it to all religious institutes of pontifical right. Truly universal is the recent decree *Cum transactis* of July 9, 1947, which preceded a new, revised edition of the questionnaire in three models, which, while not excluding any class of religious or those assimilated to them in the Church, is again adapted to Orders and Congregations, Societies of Common Life and recent Secular Institutes, nuns and sisters, including autonomous monasteries and Federations, regardless of their jurisdictional status (pontifical, diocesan, exempt, non-exempt).
The order of rotation for the submission of reports varies according to the different categories of persons concerned. Local Ordinaries, pursuant to can. 340 § 2, follow the geographical order of the position of their respective ecclesiastical jurisdiction: 1) Italy and islands (Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and other smaller ones); 2) Western Europe (Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, Ireland, with their respective islands); 3) the rest of Europe; 4) America; 5) the other parts of the world. Male religious follow the order of precedence: 1) canons regular, monks, and military Orders; 2) mendicants and regular clerics; 3) congregations of *ispugnali*; 4) congregations of *iscrizionali*; 5) Societies of Common Life, Secular Institutes, and Federations. For female religious, the geographical order is followed again: 1) religious institutes of Italy, Spain, and Portugal; 2) religious institutes of France, Belgium, Holland, England, and Ireland; 3) religious institutes of the rest of Europe; 4) religious institutes of America; 5) religious institutes of the rest of the world and all Societies of Common Life, Secular Institutes, and Federations. It should be noted that for religious, the exception granted to local Ordinaries (can. 340 § 3) does not apply: Superiors are therefore obliged to submit the report upon the expiration of the five-year period, regardless of the date they assumed office.
The report must be submitted in the form of responses to various questions: complete, albeit summary, brief, and concise responses, providing an accurate picture of the current spiritual, moral, personal, cultural, economic, disciplinary, and apostolic state of the entity to which it refers, along with appropriate historical information. To ensure objectivity, the Holy See imposes this as a grave obligation of conscience; moreover, religious Superiors are obliged to present their report to certain bodies (to Chapters and, if not exempt, to Ordinaries) for the necessary oversight. As a complement to and extension of the obligation of the quinquennial report, individual religious bodies also have the duty to submit to the Holy See, each year, summary reports with updated statistics on their personnel and works. A similar annual obligation falls upon the Ordinaries of missions with regard to summary statistical reports on the pastoral missionary activity of the preceding year (can. 300 § 2).
The new provisions regarding religious aim to achieve uniformity and juridical parity among the various families in their relationship with the Holy See.