### QUINQUENNIAL FACULTIES. - I. GENERAL NOTIONS. THE FACULTIES OF THE HOLY CONGREGATION OF THE CONSISTORY.
The various powers or indults by which an ecclesiastical superior, jurisdictionally competent, authorizes a subordinate to validly and licitly perform, for either the internal or external forum, acts which, either by their nature or by explicit reservation of law, would pertain to the superior himself, canonically assume the denomination of habitual faculties when granted for habitual or at least repeated use, that is, either in perpetuity, for multiple persons or for numerically indeterminate cases, or even for a fixed period or for a determined number of cases. If granted instead for one or two cases or with individual determination of case or person, they are called actual or particular faculties.
Any ecclesiastic endowed with ordinary jurisdiction may, within the scope of his competence, grant such faculties. Thus, in relation to the granting subject, there are apostolic or pontifical faculties—among all the most important—granted by the Pope directly or through the competent curial dicasteries, episcopal faculties, and those ordinary faculties of regular prelates. In relation to the object of the grant, there are jurisdictional faculties, which entail a true exercise of the power of jurisdiction (such as to absolve or to dispense from a law), and non-jurisdictional faculties, for the granting of mere graces and licenses. The distinction between ordinary and extraordinary faculties was formerly made based on the formulas of concession, whereas now it generally refers to the content of the concession itself. Often the criterion of distinction is drawn from the duration of the faculties; there are annual, triennial, quinquennial, decennial, and twenty-year faculties, etc. Among all, the most notable and important are the apostolic q. faculties which the Holy Congregation of the Consistory and of Propaganda Fide are accustomed to grant, each within their sphere of competence, to the Ordinaries of their subject territories. The list of the q. faculties of the Holy Congregation of the Consistory, currently in existence, was promulgated on May 17, 1922, after the new Code of Canon Law had declared the previous ones obsolete.
Such faculties are granted to the Ordinaries concerned in the year in which they are to present to the same Congregation the report on the state of their dioceses.
Following these, in order of importance, are the faculties customarily granted by the Holy See, for their respective territories, to nuncios, internuncios, and apostolic delegates, those of the Holy Penitentiary to confessors, and those of the Holy Congregation of Religious to the generals of the various religious orders. Habitual faculties possess the nature of real privileges and are classified by the canonical legislator in the category of privileges *praeter ius* (can. 66 §§ 1, 2). This means that they enjoy a particular *favor iuris*, by which they must be considered and treated as privileges, even if by their intrinsic nature they are not such, and indeed as privileges *praeter ius*, even when they sometimes imply concessions *contra ius*. As real privileges, they belong to the office, not to the person; hence, they may be exercised by anyone who, for whatever title, holds the office; they pass by right to successors, unless the concession is personal or otherwise stipulated in the grant itself. Faculties granted to a bishop are understood to be granted also to the vicar general (can. 66 § 2). As privileges *praeter ius*, they always admit of broad, that is, favorable interpretation (can. 50, 200 § 1), but never extensive interpretation (can. 67). With the faculty granted, those faculties which are necessary for its exercise are also implicitly granted; for example, the faculty to absolve from penalties incurred by one authorized to dispense from some canonical impediment, when the existence of the penalty would obstruct the obtaining of the dispensation (can. 66 § 3).
When dealing with delegated faculties, their use must be regulated according to the principles relating to delegated power (can. 199 ff.). They may be subdelegated, even habitually, provided that subdelegation is not prohibited or the faculty is not a personal grace. Further subdelegation by a subdelegate, however, is not permitted (can. 199 §§ 2, 5).
Habitual faculties and special indults have been granted by the Supreme Pontiffs, from the earliest centuries, to the first evangelizers of pagan Europe in the guise of apostolic legates, such as to St. Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604), to St. Boniface (d. 755), and to the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius (9th century). Beginning in the fourteenth century, such faculties multiplied ever more, especially in favor of the early Franciscan and Dominican missionaries and the bishops of regions far removed from Rome. In the sixteenth century, missionaries destined for the evangelization of the newly discovered Americas were already accustomed to receive them under fixed formulas and in defined lists. At the same time, they were also granted, on the same terms, to nuncios and apostolic legates, and soon after to almost all bishops of non-Italian dioceses. Urban VIII, with the apostolic constitution *Operosum* of February 10, 1637, reformed them, establishing new formulas and new lists. The ordinary formulas of concession were ten, distinguished by Roman numerals; the extraordinary ones were without numbers, arranged by uppercase or lowercase letters. In the past, the competent dicastery for granting them was the Holy Congregation of Propaganda Fide, even for territories not subject to it, until Pius X, with the apostolic constitution *Sapienti Consilio* (June 29, 1908), entrusted their concession to the individual congregations according to their respective competence. With a view to reorganizing the matter, by decree of April 25, 1918, the Holy Congregation of the Consistory (AAS, 10 [1918], p. 191) abolished all apostolic faculties, except those granted for their own territories by Propaganda Fide and those for their internal use by the Holy Penitentiary, and a new list with the new formulas was promulgated and sent to diocesan Ordinaries on May 17, 1922 by the Holy Congregation of the Consistory, to which, with the *motu proprio* *Post datam* of April 20, 1923, the definitive concession for territories of common law was reserved (AAS, 15 [1923], p. 193). Every five years, an update of the formulas was to be provided after consultation with the individual dicasteries competent in each matter. The aforementioned Holy Congregation also proceeded at the same time to compile new formulas for the faculties of nuncios, internuncios, and apostolic delegates.
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### II. THE FACULTIES OF THE HOLY CONGREGATION OF PROPAGANDA FIDE.
Before the establishment of the Holy Congregation of Propaganda Fide (1622), all missionaries belonged to some religious institute and, by direct concession or communication, enjoyed many privileges and faculties. These were granted by the Pope through the Holy Congregation of the Holy Office or by brief, by the cardinal protectors of seminaries, the rectors of the same, and even by the generals or other superiors of religious orders *in vim literarum apostolicarum vel vivae vocis oraculorum* (Arch. of Prop. Fide, *Miscellanea missioni*, vol. X, fol. 155). Over time, however, the formulas of the faculties granted grew greatly in number even for the same region and did not always correspond to local needs. The new Congregation of Propaganda Fide immediately understood that provision had to be made.
In the early years, requests for the concession or renewal of faculties were almost always transmitted to the Holy Office. In many cases, however, Propaganda examined them directly in plenary congregations, subsequently obtaining pontifical approval.
It was necessary to review the vast subject matter with new criteria; Pope Urban VIII (1623–44) established within the Congregation de Propaganda Fide a special congregation _super facultatis missionariorum_. The first recorded meeting (cf. _Miscellanea Missioni_, vol. X, ff. 155–58) was held on 25 April 1633: it consisted of several cardinals, the assessor of the Holy Office, and the secretary of Propaganda Fide. It was intended to be permanent, but the last recorded meeting dates to 1643. In 1637 it completed its reform work by establishing seven general rules for the granting of the five formulae then drawn up. The fifth, however, was never printed. Based on the first five, four more were added, bringing the total to nine and then to ten, which were granted—with slight modifications—to the various mission territories. In addition to these ordinary faculties, there were also extraordinary faculties generally granted by the Holy Office. Around the mid-19th century, Propaganda Fide itself began to grant certain extraordinary faculties according to new formulae, indicated by capital or lowercase letters of the alphabet. No indication—then or now—exists for the faculties granted to religious missionaries, the students of the Urban College, or _ad honorem_ missionaries.
After the Code of Canon Law, the ordinary and extraordinary formulae, re-examined directly by the cardinal prefect together with the principal officials of the Congregation, were reduced to three: first, second, and third, each with a major and minor version. Approved on 6 February 1919 by Benedict XV, they took effect on 19 January 1920. A supplement of faculties concerning confraternities and blessings was appended to the third formula. Later (1931), an _extra ordinem_ formula was drawn up for the dioceses of south-eastern Europe, analogous to that customarily granted by the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory to the bishops of the same dependent territory. Compared with the previous version, the new text was clearer and more precise and contained broader faculties, many of which could be communicated to missionaries. It made no mention of dispensation from irregularities, the law of fasting, or the faculty regarding prohibited books, perhaps because the Code of Canon Law already granted various faculties in these matters to Ordinaries.
The great expansion of the missions in recent years made the need for further simplification of the formulae all the more pressing, especially since the criterion of distance from Rome could no longer be accorded the same consideration as before, given the ease of communication. The new text, prepared by a special commission of consultors, was submitted for examination by the plenary congregation and then approved by the Pope on 20 February 1941. The three formulae in use were reduced to two: major and minor. The first is reserved to Ordinaries with episcopal character, the second to those without.