The Protection of Cultural Goods in the Law of the Roman-Catholic Church

Abstract

The paper consists of two parts. The first one shows how one may care about cultural heritage in the Church. Here the church structures can animate this process, especially the Papal Commission for the Church Cultural Goods established by John Paul II in 1993. According to the title, the emphasis is laid on the legal regulations contained in the Code of Canon Law of 1983.

The second part shows how the Church protects cultural heritage in Poland. With respect to the structure of the first part, the organizational units are described here, i.e. the Council for Culture and Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Conference of Polish Episcopate, and diocesan commissions. The paper gives a short review of what science has to say in this matter as it is presented in the Documents of the 2nd Plenary Synod and 23 post-conciliar diocesan synods.

To sum it up, the author states that from the point of view of the canon norms in power there is a sufficient care about the protection of the church cultural goods. The purpose for this paper was not to evaluate the application and execution of the current regulations. For this purpose it would suffice to quote John Paul II’s of 25th September 1997 to the participants of the 2nd Plenary Assembly of the Papal Commission for Cultural Goods.