Vatican establishes new canonical commission for the Eastern Churches

The General Secretariat of the Synod of the Vatican has established a new Eastern Canon Commission to develop proposals for the revision of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The commission held its first meeting on February 20 at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Synod.

According to Vatican News, the creation of this specialized commission is a continuation of the work of the Canon Commission formed in December 2023, which had already put forward proposals for reform of the CCEO, although its main focus was on the canon law of the Latin Church. The new commission is also intended to respond to the many requests of the leaders of the sui iuris Churches — the 24 autonomous Churches within the Catholic Church that are in full communion with the Pope but retain their distinct traditions, liturgies, laws and governance.

The purpose of the commission is to promote inter-dicasterial cooperation to serve the local Churches. It is composed of experts in Eastern canon law, chosen from among the consultants to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts and the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, explained that «it was deemed appropriate to create a special commission that could work in close connection with Study Group No. 1 on certain aspects of relations between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church,» while «taking into account the specificity of Eastern Canon Law.» This study group is one of ten established by Pope Francis in 2024 following the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which addressed important issues of the life and mission of the Church in a synodal context.

In the spirit of synodality that «characterizes this stage of realization,» Cardinal Grec invites sui iuris Churches, bishops’ conferences, Catholic universities, institutes and interested persons to submit their proposals to the General Secretariat of the Synod by April 15, 2026.

In the short term, the new commission is called to prepare «draft normative texts to implement the legal proposals put forward during the synodal journey 2021-2024, in particular those listed in the Synthesis Report (2023) and the Final Document (2024).» The work of the commission, including updating current Eastern legislation, will be coordinated by the Dicastery’s Secretary for Legislative Texts.

Recall, earlier we reported that Pope Leo XIV held a meeting with the head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk in the Vatican. During the audience, Sviatoslav Shevchuk again invited the Pope to visit Ukraine.