DELEGATE APOSTOLIC. - According to the currently accepted concept, the a. d. is a prelate, a titular archbishop, who is sent by the Roman pontiff as his representative, with a permanent commission but without diplomatic character, to the Catholic communities of a given nation (cf. Comunicato della Segreteria di Stato, 8 May 1916: AAS, 8 [1916], p. 213). The a. d. is therefore not, generally, the residential bishop of a diocese in the territory in which he carries out his functions, although examples are not lacking of a. d. who have been, or, according to pontifical decrees, should be, bishops of a diocese included within their territorial circumscription; according to the notion given by the CIC itself (can. 267 § 2), not even the episcopal character is necessarily joined to the office of a. d. Moreover, as has been mentioned, the latter does not exercise diplomatic functions: that is, he is the representative of the Roman pontiff to the bishops and Catholic communities, not to the head of the State to which he is sent, and he carries out religious, not political, duties. The representatives of the Roman pontiff to governments, deputed in a stable manner to functions of a political order, do not in fact have the name of delegate, but of nuncio or internuncio. For there to be, however, an apostolic delegation in the proper sense, it is required that the representation with which it is invested be by its nature stable, and not limited in time or by circumstances already foreseen at the moment of its constitution.
The function of a. d. is to watch over the Catholic communities and works of a given nation or region and to keep the Holy See informed about them; to communicate to bishops, to apostolic vicars or prefects, to superiors of missions or missionaries the instructions of the Apostolic See, and to watch over their fulfillment, as in general over the exact observance of all ecclesiastical laws (can. 267 § 2).
The impossibility of personally treating and resolving all questions, and of being present in several places, forced the Roman pontiffs from the earliest times to entrust to others the task of representing them. This practice became even more frequent when, having acquired their freedom, the supreme pontiffs were in a position to exercise their universal primacy with greater effectiveness. For the most part, however, these were special and transitory delegations, designated according to Roman expressions in different ways: missio, legatio, delegatio. The substantial difference that exists between these representations, lacking continuity and permanence, and today's apostolic delegations is evident, as is the distinction between a. d., the legati missi and the legati a latere. Deeper, on the other hand, is the analogy with the other forms of stable and permanent representation, such as in ancient times the apostolic vicars, the apocrisiaries (v.) and the legati nati, and, in more recent times, the nuncios and internuncios. Like today's a. d., the ancient apostolic vicars too represented the Roman pontiff, were invested with episcopal, indeed metropolitan, dignity, had no commissions of a political nature nor diplomatic functions, but watched over the ecclesiastical discipline of their territory, and for the gravest questions also served as an organ of transmission and information for the Holy See. Unlike today's a. d., however, the ancient vicars were residential bishops, and, although every new titular needed apostolic confirmation for the powers proper to his office of vicar, these were given solely to the bishops of determined sees, and not to others. Finally, the ancient vicars exercised a true and broad jurisdiction, albeit vicarious, also over the dioceses of their territory. The figure of the apocrisiary agrees with that of today's a. d. in his quality as stable representative of the Roman pontiff, lacking ordinary jurisdiction and charged with watching over the integrity of the faith and informing the Roman See about it; he differs from him, however, besides in the ordinary lack of episcopal character on the part of the latter, in another substantial respect: whereas the a. d. is the representative of the Roman pontiff to the churches and bishops, the apocrisiary was the representative of the Roman pontiff to the imperial court, albeit for affairs of a religious order. The legati nati differ from the a. d. for the very aspects that have been noted in regard to the apostolic vicars, and for another no less fundamental reason: the a. d. have the title and prerogatives of representatives of the Roman pontiff by a concession made directly to their person, whereas the legati nati obtained this title and the jurisdiction inherent in it through the office to which they were elected. In their quality as representatives of the Roman pontiff to the Catholic communities, the apostolic nuncios and internuncios fulfill a function identical to that of the a. d., but in addition to this, they are invested with the representation of the pope to civil governments. It must finally be observed that, whereas the ancient apostolic vicariates, apocrisiariates, legations nati, nunciatures and internunciatures presuppose, by their very origin and the conduct of their activity, a hierarchy of common law, the apostolic delegations, on the other hand, arose in mission territory, and generally exercise their functions in regions where the conversion of infidels, heretics or schismatics constitutes the principal task of the Church's action.
Before today's apostolic delegations arose, the means that the pontiffs used to inform themselves of the possibilities of life and development of the Church in the pagan, heretical or schismatic world were the Latin bishops, the Latin apostolic vicars or the mission prefects who already existed and carried out their work in those regions. Particularly the Latin bishops and apostolic vicars of the Ottoman Empire constituted the normal channel of the pontiffs for corresponding with the persons invested with supreme civil power, for initiating, continuing and sometimes bringing to completion the work directed to the conversion of the heads of the schismatic Churches and their followers, and for informing themselves of the state of the Catholic Church. With this one cannot conclude that these bishops and vicars were from the beginning true and proper a. d. in the modern sense, because they lacked an official and stable mandate that constituted them representatives of the supreme authority, and the commissions entrusted to them, and which are now ordinarily carried out by a. d., were generally occasional, and not inherent in a previous and general mandate of representation. It was, however, from these apostolic vicars and bishops that today's delegations had their origin.
From the beginnings of the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide, ideas and projects were examined which, if they cannot properly be called anticipations of the apostolic delegations, prepared the way for them. On 2 March 1622, Fr. Diego Collado, vice provincial of the Dominicans in Japan, Fr. Diego di S. Francesco, commissary of the Franciscans, Fr. Antonio di S. Bonaventura, commissary of the Discalced Carmelites and other missionaries addressed a petition to the Supreme Pontiff, in which it was asked that a prelate be designated to represent in the East Indies the Supreme Head of the Church, with authority superior even to the bishops and with power to define all controversies, given that, because of the distance of the places, it was impossible to submit cases to the judgment of the apostolic tribunals; the project was repeatedly discussed by the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide, and then abandoned, both because of the difficulties arising from the patronage of the crown of Spain, and because of the persecutions that tormented the Church in the Empire of the Rising Sun.
The apostolic delegate to be established in the East Indies was to have had predominantly the character of a judge of appeal, delegated by the Apostolic See, but it was also intended to assign to him the office of executor of its mandates, supervision over the missions and over the bishops, and the task of informing the Supreme Pontiff. His office was to have been tied to a residential see, and the powers pertaining to it were to have been temporary.
The plan that could not be carried out in Japan was translated into reality elsewhere, and with notable variations, later on. In the particular congregations of Propaganda Fide on 17 and 27 July 1678 it was decided, in accordance with the proposal of F. Pallu, apostolic vicar of Tonkin, to subject the six new vicariates, into which the missions of the Far East, including Japan, had been divided, to two general administrators: one for the missions of China, the other for those of the neighboring countries. The supreme administration of the missions of China was entrusted to Msgr. Pallu, that of the neighboring countries to Msgr. Pietro de La Motte Lambert. To these administrators, called apostolic delegates, ample powers were attributed: to visit the vicariates, to instruct and ordain clerics, to convoke the native priests in synod, to examine and decide the controversies that could arise among the vicariates, and also, in second instance, the cases arising among the vicariates themselves, among ecclesiastics both secular and regular, and among the faithful. These apostolic delegates had the task of establishing the destination of the missionaries and could transfer them from one vicariate to another. They were appointed for seven years, but could be revoked even before the term, and, in the event of death, could transmit their faculties to others. In the particular congregation of 5 Dec. 1689, both administrators having died, it was decided that they should no longer be replaced.
Such delegations were similar to today's, because more than in the previous ones the functions of an organ transmitting the acts and the will of the Holy See, of supervision over the subject missions, and of informing the supreme power were notable in them; they differed substantially, however, both because the office lacked stability, and also because they exercised their jurisdiction within the very ambit of the vicariates.
The first apostolic delegate in the modern sense was Msgr. Arnoldo Bossù, elected apostolic vicar of Aleppo by brief of 17 June 1762. In the instructions annexed, besides the faculties deriving from his ordinary jurisdiction as Latin apostolic vicar, he was given the mandate to watch over all the Catholic communities existing in the territory, to whatever rite they belonged, to supervise the execution of the pontifical constitutions, and to inform the Apostolic See. In the Instructions it was expressly stated that the functions of supervision of the Eastern communities belonged to the new Latin vicar as representative of the Holy See in the territory that comprised the Maronite and Armenian patriarchates. The assignment had no limit of time, and was destined to continue even after the death of the person who had been invested with it the first time. Although therefore a formal act of erection as an office distinct from that of apostolic vicar of Aleppo was lacking, it was a true apostolic delegation in the modern sense: and the official documents, on the occasion of the appointment of the subsequent apostolic vicars of Aleppo, expressly designate them, for the exercise of their powers with regard to the Eastern communities, as apostolic delegates. The experiment carried out successfully in Syria was then repeated in Mesopotamia, where the apostolic delegation pro Nazione catholica Chaldaeorum was entrusted to the Latin bishop of Bagdad; then in Constantinople, and thereafter outside the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire.
The apostolic delegate is therefore first of all the official and ordinary organ through which the Holy See communicates its will and its directives to the bishops, to religious superiors, to the regular and secular clergy, and to the faithful: by virtue indeed of its divine primacy, the Roman pontiff has ordinary and immediate jurisdiction over all the faithful and over their pastors (can. 218). The apostolic delegation is furthermore the ordinary channel through which the Holy See transmits its rescripts, grants its favors, sends its aids, and is also the normal means for forwarding to the Apostolic See the requests and appeals coming from the territory of the delegation. The function of supervision and inspection entrusted to the apostolic delegate refers to whatever may interest the Holy See, so as to be informed both about the state, the development, the needs, the dangers of the individual Churches, and about compliance with its laws, its commands, its directives, and about the opportunity for its direct intervention. The chief object of such a function are the faith, the morals, the discipline of ecclesiastics, general and public disorders, concord in the clergy and among Catholics in general, so that they may exercise their beneficent influence in the most effective way. To the apostolic delegate is also entrusted the carrying out of an unofficial action, that is, of counsel, in a friendly form, with regard to the bishops, the religious superiors, and also the laity, for the purpose of settling questions, removing abuses, preventing dangers, and promoting the development of the life of the Church.
In the exercise of these functions, however, the apostolic delegate must leave to the local Ordinaries the free exercise of their jurisdiction (can. 269 § 1), unless he is furnished with special and extraordinary faculties to intervene in the government of their communities.
Ordinarily the apostolic delegate is invested, as has been said, with an archiepiscopal title. But even if he were without episcopal character, as representative of the supreme Head of the Church, he would have precedence over all Ordinaries not invested with cardinalitial dignity (can. 269 § 2), therefore also over patriarchs. If he is a bishop he may impart the blessing to the people in the churches of the Ordinaries, except in the cathedral, without their license, and celebrate functions in them, even pontifical ones, with throne and canopy (can. 269 § 3).
To this function of representation there has been wisely joined an accumulation of faculties, of themselves reserved to the Holy See. The exercise of them, while it implies the recognition of the pontifical primacy, tends to reconcile affection and devotion to the Holy See and to the apostolic delegation itself, so that the faithful, the priests and the bishops may find in the latter an easy and ready means of obtaining the necessary dispensations, graces and favors, without being constrained to have recourse to the Apostolic See, with delays many times dangerous or harmful.
At present (1950) the apostolic delegations are 23 in all, of which 5 (Canada, Philippines, Great Britain, Mexico, United States of America) depend on the Sacred Consistorial Congregation; 8 (Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Jerusalem and Palestine, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey) depend on the Sacred Oriental Congregation; 11 (French Africa or Dakar, Southern Africa, British East and West Africa, Albania, Indonesian Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, Korea, Japan, Indochina) depend on the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda.
Bibliography
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