It’s so easy to get important details wrong, isn’t it? A very important thing
indeed for the running of the Church today is the Code of Canon Law.
Try a little test ! When was it promulgated ?
(a ) by St Peter and St Paul
(b) at the Council of Chalcedon
(c) at the Council of Trent
All wrong ! It was in 1917, i.e. within the lifetime of some living Catholics.
Hmm.
Pius XII, involved in its compiling, tinkered with it during his pontificate,
and it was modified a little in I983, but left basically the same.
We’ll just repeat all that. The Code of Canon Law was promulgated in 1917.
Worth remembering , we think.

A management guru once described the Holy See as one of history’s most
efficient organisations, along with General Motors and the Prussian Army.

General Motors had its first bankruptcy in 2009. It had 45 product recalls
up to June 2014, involving 28 million cars worldwide,and 24 million in the USA.

The Prussian Army, notorious for its harsh discipline and inflexibility,
lost World War I. The result ? Hitlar and the Third Reich.

On being told that the Holy See’s diplomacy was the best in the world,
Cardinal Domenico Tardini, secretary of state under John XXIII, is said
to have replied “God help whoever’s number two.”

As we said, it’s good to get the details right!

“You should also learn to understand and-dare I say it-to love canon law,
appreciating how necessary it is and valuing its practical applications:
a society without law would be a society without rights. Law is the
condition of love !” Benedict XVI to seminarians,18.10.2010

Students of unconscious literary echoes interested in the last sentence,
not forgetting the exclamation mark, should get in touch with us.

The result? Hitler and the Third Reich.