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Dr. Edward Peters 

To work for the proper implementation of canon law is to play an extraordinarily

constructive role in continuing the redemptive mission of Christ. Pope John Paul II

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Updated

7 jan 2013

Resources on The Roman Rota


Overview

The Roman Rota is the Catholic Church's highest judicial court.

 


The Law

1983 CIC 1443. Tribunal ordinarium a Romano Pontifice constitutum appellationibus recipiendis est Rota Romana.

 

Eng. trans., 1983 CIC 1443. The Roman Rota is the ordinary tribunal established by the Roman Pontiff to receive appeals.

 

1983 CIC 1444. § 1. Rota Romana iudicat: 1° in secunda instantia, causas quae ab ordinariis tribunalibus primae instantiae diiudicatae fuerint et ad Sanctam Sedem per appellationem legitimam deferantur; 2° in tertia vel ulteriore instantia, causas ab ipsa Rota Romana et ab aliis quibusvis tribunalibus iam cognitas, nisi res iudicata habeatur. § 2. Hoc tribunal iudicat etiam in prima instantia causas de quibus in can. 1405 § 3, aliasve quas Romanus Pontifex sive motu proprio, sive ad instantiam partium ad suum tribunal advocaverit et Rotae Romanae commiserit; easque, nisi aliud cautum sit in commissi muneris rescripto, ipsa Rota iudicat etiam in secunda et ulteriore instantia.

 

Eng. trans., 1983 CIC 1444. § 1.  The Roman Rota judges: 1º in second instance, cases which have been adjudicated by the ordinary tribunals of first instance and brought before the Holy See through legitimate appeal; 2º in third or further instance, cases which the Roman Rota or any other tribunals have already adjudicated unless the matter is a res iudicata. § 2. This tribunal also judges in first instance the cases mentioned in can. 1405 § 3 and others which the Roman Pontiff, either motu proprio or at the request of the parties, has called to his own tribunal and entrusted to the Roman Rota; unless the rescript entrusting the function provides otherwise, the Rota also judges these cases in second and further instance.

 

John Paul II, ap. con. Pastor bonus (28 iun 1988), Acta Apostolicae Sedis 80 (1988) 841-912, artt. 126-130, on-line PDF here, Eng. trans. available in Canon Law Society of America, Code of Canon Law, Latin-English Edition, New English Translation (Canon Law Society of America, 1999) 679-734, at 721-722, and on-line here.

 

Benedict XVI, m.p. Quaerit semper (30 aug 2011), Acta Apostolicae Sedis 103 (2011) 569-571, on-line PDF here, Eng. trans. on-line here, establishing a new office in the Rota for hearing ratum cases and nullity of ordination.

 

See also Sacra Romana Rota, Normae S. Romanae Rotae Tribunalis (per Ewers, 16 ian. 1982),  Acta Apostolicae Sedis 74 (1982) 490-517, on-line PDF here, Eng. trans. in Canon Law Digest 10: 219-248.

 

See also Tribunal Apostolicum Sacrae Romanae Rotae, Decisiones seu Sententiae (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis / Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1912 to present) publishing annually selected Rotal sentences issued from 1909 on.

 


Prelate Auditors of the Roman Rota

 

 

Usually there are about 20 Prelate Auditors (or judges) serving on the Roman Rota. The name of the Dean is placed in bold. Italian Auditors listed in Red. Native English speakers are marked USA:  Ireland:   Scotland: , but some other auditors are fluent in English. Age at time of appointment in given parentheses.

 

Source: Cittá del Vaticano, Annuario Pontificio, "Tribunale della Rota Romano"

 


"If one takes a given volume of the Rota decisions and reads consecutively all of the decisions on a given caput, it does not take long to discover that the Rota frequently reverses itself. These reversals are generally due to different interpretations of the facts. At times, however, the reversals are due to different interpretations of the law. The conclusion is that the law, as expounded by the Rota in a given decision, especially on an abstruse point, is not necessarily above all controversy." J. Chatham, "Sources and their use in the preparation of briefs and sentences" The Jurist 20 (1960) 84-98, at 89.

 

 

Links on-site

 

Papal addresses

to the Rota

 

Sample Rotal case

coram Filipiak (1956)

 

 

Links off-site

 

Tribunale della

Rota Romana

 

Rev. Rhode's

photo gallery of

Rotal auditors

 

Msgr. Cormac Burke retired Rotal auditor

Website

 

Wiki

Roman Rota

 

Wiki

Tribunale della

Rota Romana

 

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

De Jorio (48)

De Jorio

De Jorio

Fiore

Fiore

Fiore (42)

Fiore

Fiore

Pinto

Pinto

Ferraro (54)

Ferraro

Ferraro

Masala

Masala

Parisella (54)

Parisella

Pinto

Di Felice

Pompedda

Pinto (55)

Pinto

Masala

Pompedda

Serrano

Masala (53)

Masala

Di Felice

Serrano

Bruno

Di Felice (56)

Di Felice

Pompedda

Augustino

Davino

Pompedda (40)

Pompedda

Serrano

Bruno

Huot

Serrano (38)

Serrano

Augustino

Davino

Stankiewicz

Augustino (47)

Augustino

Bruno

Huot

Giannecchini

Bruno (49)

Bruno

Davino

Stankiewicz

Colagiovanni

Davino (42)

Davino

Huot

Giannecchini

Ragni

Huot (58)

Huot

Egan

Colagiovanni

DE LaNversin

Egan (40)

Egan

Stankiewicz

Ragni

Jarawan

Stankiewicz (42)

Stankiewicz

Giannecchini

DE LaNversin

Funghini

Giannecchini (53)

Giannecchini

Colagiovanni

Jarawan

Palestro

Colagiovanni (59)

Colagiovanni

Ragni

FUNGHINI

Van Bilsen

Ragni (56)

Ragni

DE LaNversin

PALESTRO (56)

Corso

DE LaNversin (56)

DE LaNversin

Jarawan

Van Bilsen (72)

Burke (59)

Jarawan (59)

Jarawan

FUNGHINI (55)

Corso (57)

Doran (49)

 

 

 

 

Boccafola (47)

 

 

 

 

Neuhaus (47)

 

 

 

 

Faltin (59)

 

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

Fiore

Fiore

Fiore

Fiore

Fiore

Masala

Masala

Pompedda

Pompedda

Pompedda

Pompedda

Pompedda

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Bruno

Bruno

Bruno

Bruno

Bruno

Davino

Davino

Davino

Davino

Davino

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Giannecchini

Giannecchini

Giannecchini

Giannecchini

Giannecchini

Colagiovanni

Colagiovanni

Colagiovanni

Colagiovanni

Colagiovanni

Ragni

Ragni

Ragni

Ragni

Ragni

DE LaNversin

DE LaNversin

DE LaNversin

DE LaNversin

DE LaNversin

Jarawan

Jarawan

Jarawan

Jarawan

Jarawan

Funghini

Funghini

Funghini

Funghini

Funghini

Palestro

Palestro

Palestro

Palestro

Palestro

Corso

Burke 

Burke 

Corso

Corso

Burke

Doran

Doran

Burke 

Burke

Doran

Boccafola

Boccafola

Doran

Doran

Boccafola

Neuhaus

Faltin

Boccafola

Boccafola

Neuhaus

Faltin

Civili

Neuhaus

Neuhaus

Faltin

Civili

 

Faltin

Faltin

Civili

 

 

 

CIVILI (62)

 

 

 

 

 

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

Fiore

Pompedda

Pompedda

Pompedda

Pompedda

Pompedda

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Bruno

Bruno

Bruno

Stankiewicz

Bruno

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Giannecchini

Davino

Giannecchini

Giannecchini

Giannecchini

DE LaNversin

Stankiewicz

Colagiovanni

Ragni

Ragni

Funghini

Giannecchini

Ragni

DE LaNversin

DE LaNversin

Burke

Colagiovanni

DE LaNversin

Jarawan

Jarawan

Boccafola

Ragni

Jarawan

Funghini

Funghini

Faltin

DE LaNversin

Funghini

Burke

Burke 

Civili

Jarawan

Burke 

Boccafola

Boccafola

huber

Funghini

Doran

Faltin

Faltin

López-illana

Palestro

Boccafola

Civili

Civili

Defilippi

Burke

Faltin

HUBER

huber

sable

Doran

Civili

López ILLANA

López-illana

Turnaturi

Boccafola

HUBER

DEFILIPPI

Defilippi

Monier

Faltin

López ILLANA (64)

SABLE (46)

sable

pinto

Civili

DEFILIPPI (53)

TURNATURI (58)

Turnaturi

ALWAN (41)

HUBER (57)

 

MONIER (42)

Monier

CABERLETTI (48)

 

 

 

pinto (53)

 

 

 

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Pompedda

Pompedda

Funghini

Funghini

Funghini

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Giannecchini

Funghini

Boccafola

Boccafola

Boccafola

Funghini

Burke

Faltin

Faltin

huber

Burke

Boccafola

Civili

huber

López-illana

Boccafola

Faltin

huber

López-illana

Defilippi

Faltin

Civili

López-illana

Defilippi

sable

Civili

huber

Defilippi

sable

Turnaturi

huber

López-illana

sable

Turnaturi

Monier

López-illana

Defilippi

Turnaturi

Monier

pinto

Defilippi

sable

Monier

pinto

ALWAN

sable

Turnaturi

pinto

ALWAN

CABERLETTI

Turnaturi

Monier

ALWAN

CABERLETTI

BOTTONE

Monier

pinto

CABERLETTI

BOTTONE

ERLEBACH

pinto

ALWAN

BOTTONE

ERLEBACH

Ciani

ALWAN

CABERLETTI

ERLEBACH

Ciani

Ferreira

CABERLETTI

BOTTONE

 Ciani (63)

Ferreira

Sciacca

BOTTONE (55)

ERLEBACH

Ferreira (42)

Sciacca

VERGINELLI

ERLEBACH (42)

 

Sciacca (44)

VERGINELLI (63)

DE ANGELIS (57)

 

 

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Funghini

Funghini

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Boccafola

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

Serrano

huber

Stankiewicz

Stankiewicz

Boccafola

Boccafola

Defilippi

Boccafola

Boccafola

huber

huber

sable

huber

huber

Defilippi

Defilippi

Turnaturi

López-illana

López-illana

sable

sable

Monier

Defilippi

Defilippi

Turnaturi

Turnaturi

pinto

sable

sable

Monier

Monier

ALWAN

Turnaturi

Turnaturi

pinto

pinto

CABERLETTI

Monier

Monier

ALWAN

ALWAN

BOTTONE

pinto

pinto

CABERLETTI

CABERLETTI

ERLEBACH

ALWAN

ALWAN

BOTTONE

BOTTONE

Ciani

CABERLETTI

CABERLETTI

ERLEBACH

ERLEBACH

Ferreira

BOTTONE

BOTTONE

Ciani

Ciani

Sciacca

ERLEBACH

ERLEBACH

Ferreira

Ferreira

VERGINELLI

Ciani

Ciani

Sciacca

Sciacca

DE ANGELIS

Ferreira

Ferreira

VERGINELLI

VERGINELLI

MCKAY 

Sciacca

Sciacca

DE ANGELIS

DE ANGELIS

YAACOUB

VERGINELLI

VERGINELLI

MCKAY (54)

MCKAY 

 

DE ANGELIS

DE ANGELIS

YAACOUB (56)

YAACOUB

 

 

 

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Boccafola

Boccafola

Boccafola

Stankiewicz

pinto

huber

huber

huber

Boccafola

Defilippi

Defilippi

Defilippi

Defilippi

Defilippi

sable

sable

sable

sable

sable

Monier

Turnaturi

Turnaturi

Turnaturi

Monier

CABERLETTI

Monier

Monier

Monier

pinto

BOTTONE

pinto

pinto

pinto

ALWAN

ERLEBACH

ALWAN

ALWAN

ALWAN

CABERLETTI

Ferreira

CABERLETTI

CABERLETTI

CABERLETTI

BOTTONE

MCKAY

BOTTONE

BOTTONE

BOTTONE

ERLEBACH

YAACOUB

ERLEBACH

ERLEBACH

ERLEBACH

Ferreira

AROKIARAJ

Ciani

Ciani

Ferreira

Sciacca

ARELLANO

Ferreira

Ferreira

Sciacca

VERGINELLI

VACCAROTTO

Sciacca

Sciacca

VERGINELLI

DE ANGELIS

JAEGER 56

VERGINELLI

VERGINELLI

DE ANGELIS

MCKAY 

TODISCO 55

DE ANGELIS

DE ANGELIS

MCKAY

YAACOUB

HEREDEIA 50

MCKAY 

MCKAY

YAACOUB

AROKIARAJ

SALVATORI 40

YAACOUB

YAACOUB

AROKIARAJ

ARELLANO

GRAULICH 47

AROKIARAJ (48)

AROKIARAJ

ARELLANO

VACCAROTTO (70)

AMENTA =

ARELLANO (44)

ARELLANO

 

MARONCELLI (67)

 

 


Historical Note on the Roman Rota

 

 

Another historical overview at New Advent (the original Catholic Encyclopedia): "Sacra Romana Rota" [English]

 

 

For a brief history of the famous Spanish Rota at Madrid, reconstituted in 1947, see Anon, "The Establishment of the Spanish Rota" The Jurist 7 (1947) 427-436; for brief comments on the Spanish and "Polish Rota", see E. Egan, “Appeal in marriage nullity cases: two centuries of experiment and reform”, Canon Law Society of America Proceedings 43 (1981) 132-144.

 

 

From the earliest days of the Apostolic Chancery there were chancellors (later vice-chancellors) known as l’auditores contradictorum and cappellani. To these were assigned, at first case-by-case but then on a stable basis, investigations of cases (auditores causarum curiae domini papae) although Pope Innocent III withheld from them the power of pronouncing final sentence. Under Pope Innocent IV and the First Council of Lyon (1245) these chaplains developed into a stable tribunal; John XXII assigned to this group a particular center and, in 1331 with the constitution Ratio iuris, he organized it according to a special rule. The name “Rota” probably derives from the round room in which the Auditors met to hear cases. Pope Sixtus IV (1472) originally set the number of Chaplain Auditors at twelve. Pope Benedict XIV definitively set out the competence of the tribunal in his constitution Iustitiae et pacis in 1747. Beginning with Pope Gregory XVI (1834) the Rota served as an appellate tribunal for the Papal States, while cases pertaining to the ecclesiastical forum typically went before Congregations.

 

In 1870 the activity of the Roman Rota essentially ceased [in the turmoil following the Italian Revolution], but with his constitution Sapienti consilio (29 June 1908) Pope St. Pius X reconstituted it (ASS 41 [1908] 425-440, at 435). This document was accompanied by the Lex propria S. R. Rotae  et Signaturae Apostolicae (ASS 41 [1908] 440-461) and both were soon (4 August 1910) supplemented by the Regulae servandae apud S. R. Rotae Tribunal (AAS 2 [1910] 783-850). Pope Pius XI amended these norms on 29 July 1934 (AAS 26 [1934] 449-491). Further amended norms were approved on 16 January 1982 (AAS 74 [1982] 490-517, Eng. CLD 10: 219-248). The current norms were approved by Pope John Paul II on 18 April 1994 and went into effect October 1 of that year (AAS 86 [1994] 508-540).

 

The appointment of auditors has always been reserved to the pope, but certain nations have the right to nominate auditors; thus Spain may propose two auditors, and Germany and France one each. [The Italian sees of] Bologna, Milan, Venice, Ferrara, and Perugia each also have the privilege of nominating auditors. All must nominees must be doctores iuris famosi and be distinguished for prudence and integrity of life.

 

The Rota adjudicates cases in a turnus (panel) of three Auditors or the ones who see everything [submitted in a case]. Essentially the Rota is today an appellate Tribunal (1983 CIC 1444) and adjudicates: a) in second instance, cases decided by ordinary tribunals at the trial level that are sent to the Holy See by legitimate appeal; b) in third and further instances, cases already treated, [and arising] by appeal within the Rota or coming from other another ecclesiastical appellate tribunal. Furthermore, it can adjudicate in first instance cases expressly reserved to it according to the tenor of 1983 CIC 1405 § 3 and those which, upon being called by the Roman Pontiff to himself (either on his own or at the request of a party), are sent to it by the Supreme Pontiff. The Rota is also the Tribunal of appeal for the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Vatican City State (John Paul II, m.p. Quo civium, 21 Nov. 1987, art. 7).

 

Cittá del Vaticano, Annuario Pontificio (any recent year), Peters' trans, text slightly amended.

 


Selected studies on the Roman Rota

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Augustine Mendonça, Rotal Anthology: an annotated Index of Rotal Decisions from 1971-1988 (Canon Law Society of America, 1992) 771 pp. • A major achievement. All matrimonial cases heard by the Roman Rota and published from 1971-1988 are summarized in English (from the Latin); indexed by protocol number, date of decision, canonical grounds, judges, and country of origin. Presentation of cases appears unbiased, indexing seems highly accurate. Allows researches to determine in a few minutes whether a given annulment case needs to be studied in more detail, and permits immediate study of Rotal trends during years of intense canonical development in marriage law. A magnificent resource.

 

 

 

Title Page for Otthobono's

Collected Rotal Decisiones (1657)

 

Bp. Keating's dissertation became a classic overnight

Raymond Burke (American/Roman prelate, 1948- ), Lack of discretion of judgment (Gregorianum, 1986) 257 pp. Wiki Burke. “The too rapid growth of practice without a clear and solid theoretical foundation has its most serious consequences in the confusion regarding the very foundations of matrimonial law”. Burke, op. cit., at 85.

 

Carolus Holböck, Tractatus de Jurisprudentia Sacrae Romanae Rotae 1909-1946 (Verlag Styria, 1957) 400 pp.

 

 

 

John Keating (American prelate, 1934-1998), The Bearing of Mental Impairment on the Validity of Marriage: An Analysis of Rotal Jurisprudence (Gregorianum, 1963) 221 pp. Wiki Keating.

 

Judge John Noonan

Photo, Jim Block, Boalt Hall

John Noonan (American jurist, b. 1926), Power to Dissolve: Lawyers and Marriages in the courts of the Roman Curia (1972) 489 pp. Review: W. Bassett in The Jurist 32 (1972) 419-425. • Noonan, now a prominent judge on the federal Circuit Court of Appeals, was also for many years a respected scholar of canon law history at Boalt Hall, University of California Berkeley. This work, based on Noonan's study of Vatican archives, caused a stir upon its publication in 1972, by painting an accurate, if not entirely flattering, picture of the complex canonical processes by which, especially prior to the Second Vatican Council, Catholic marriage cases were adjudicated. This book is, I think, respectful of the canonical tradition and fosters an appreciation that adjudicating marriage cases is as much an art as it is a science.

 

 

English Translations of Rotal Sentences

 

 

CUA published translations of the 11 Rotal sentences that served as sources for 1983 CIC 1095, 1° in The Jurist 54 (1994).

 

For the last several years, Msgr. Cormac Burke, Rotal auditor from 1986 to 1999, has made English translations of several of his sentences available, in whole or in part, on his website. Some translations into Spanish and French are also available there.

 

In 2009, I published a translation of coram Filipiak, 23 martii 1956, SRRD 48 (1956) 255-258, here.

 

Recently released is: V. Vondenberger, ed., Rotal Jurisprudence: Selected Translations (Canon Law Society of America, 2011) 301 pp. Order it here. Review: J. Scheib, The Jurist 72 (2012) 320-321.