The status of Episcopal Conferences and a re-discovered Ecclesial Orthopraxis - vibrant echoes of the local churches in the magisterium of Pope Francis

Abstract

This article studies the role exercised by local Churches and Episcopal Conferences, perhaps one of the underdeveloped themes of conciliar and post-conciliar ecclesiology. The principal focus of this research is an analysis of the importance given by Pope Francis during the first four years of his pontificate to the authoritative pronouncements and publications made by Episcopal Conferences. The plentiful number of references to local documents by Episcopal Conferences is indeed an important feature, which has inaugurated a new style in the exercise of the Magisterium, and reveals an ecclesial orthopraxis based more convincingly on collegiality and synodality.