An episcopal conference, often also called a bishops’ conference or conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to meet regularly, with its own legal structure and ecclesial leadership function, is the Swiss Bishops' Conference, which was founded in 1863. More than forty episcopal conferences existed before the Second Vatican Council. Their status was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council and further defined by Pope Paul VI's 1966 '' motu proprio'', '' Ecclesiae sanctae''. Episcopal conferences are generally defined by geographic borders, often national ones, with all the bishops in a given country belonging to the same conference, although they may also include neighboring countries. Certain authority and tasks are assigned to episcopal conferences, particularly with regard to setting the liturgical norms for the

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, a role affirmed in the Second Vatican Council's '' Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy''. Episcopal conferences receive their authority under universal law or particular mandates. In certain circumstances, as defined by

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

, the decisions of an episcopal conference are subject to ratification from the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. Individual

do not relinquish their immediate authority for the governance of their respective

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

s to the conference.

Theological and juridical status

The operation, authority, and responsibilities of episcopal conferences are currently governed by the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of Ecclesiastical Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

(see especially canons 447–459) In addition, there are assemblies of bishops which include the bishops of different rites in a nation, both Eastern Catholic and

Latin Catholic The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 ''sui iuris'' churches in full communion w ...

; these are described in canon 322 §2 of the

Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches The ''Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'' (CCEC; , abbreviated CCEO) is the title of the 1990 work which is a codification of the common portions of the canon law for the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is divided i ...

. The nature of episcopal conferences, and their magisterial authority in particular, was subsequently clarified by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in his 1998 '' motu proprio'', ''Apostolos suos'', which stated that the declarations of such conferences "constitute authentic magisterium" when approved unanimously by the conference; otherwise the conference must achieve a two-thirds majority and seek the , that is, recognition of approval, of the Holy See, which they will not receive if the majority "is not substantial". In the 2013 apostolic exhortation, '' Evangelii Gaudium'',

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

expressed his concern that the intent of the Second Vatican Council, which would give episcopal conferences "genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated". On September 9, 2017, Pope Francis modified

, granting episcopal conferences specific authority "to faithfully prepare … approve and publish the liturgical books for the regions for which they are responsible after the confirmation of the Apostolic See." The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which formerly had primary responsibility for translations, was ordered to "help the Episcopal Conferences to fulfil their task." On October 22, 2017, the Holy See released a letter that Pope Francis had sent to the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, clarifying that the Holy See and its departments would have only limited authority to confirm liturgical translations recognized by a local episcopal conference. In late February, 2018, the Council of Cardinals and Pope Francis undertook a consideration of the theological status of episcopal conferences, re-reading Pope John Paul II's ''Apostolos Suos'' in the light of Pope Francis's ''Evangelii Gaudium''.

List of episcopal conferences

Source:

Africa

Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) is an episcopal conference consisting of all the Bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Roman Catholic (term), Roman Catholic Church in Roman Catholic Church in South Africa, South Africa ...

(SACBC) # Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference # Tanzania Episcopal Conference # Episcopal Conference of Togo #

Uganda Episcopal Conference The Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) or Episcopal Conference of Uganda is the local conference of Roman Catholic bishops in Uganda, established in 1960. The UEC acts primarily through the Uganda Catholic Secretariat in an effort to promote and ...

# Zambia Episcopal Conference # Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference

Asia

Europe

Oceania

# Australian Catholic Bishops Conference # New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference # Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (C.E. PAC.) # Catholic Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands

North America

# Antilles Episcopal Conference #

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB; ) is the national assembly of the bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943, and was officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. Since the Sec ...

(CCCB) # Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica # Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba # Conference of the Dominican Episcopate (CED) # Episcopal Conference of El Salvador # Episcopal Conference of Guatemala # Episcopal Conference of Haiti # Episcopal Conference of Honduras # Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM) # Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua # Episcopal Conference of Panama # Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference (CEP) #

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic C ...

(USCCB)

South America

# Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA) # Bolivian Episcopal Conference # National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) # Episcopal Conference of Chile (CECh) # Episcopal Conference of Colombia # Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference # Paraguayan Episcopal Conference # Peruvian Episcopal Conference # Episcopal Conference of Uruguay # Venezuelan Episcopal Conference Notes

Other episcopal bodies

In addition to the episcopal conferences as defined by the Holy See, there are a number of other regional groupings of bishops:

Synods of eastern rite churches

Synods of Bishops of the Patriarchal and Major Archiepiscopal Churches *Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church *Synod of the Chaldean Church *Synod of the Catholic Coptic Church *Synod of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church *Synod of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church *Synod of the Romanian Church *Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church *Synod of the Syro-Malabarese Church *Synod of the Syro-Malankarese Church *Council of the Ethiopian Church *Council of the Ruthenian Church, U.S.A. *Council of the Slovakian Church

Assemblies of bishops

National assemblies of Hierarchs of Churches Sui Iuris (including eastern Catholic as well as Latin ordinaries) *Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchy of Egypt *Assembly of the Catholic Bishops of Iraq *Assembly of the Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon *Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchs of Syria *Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land *Iranian Episcopal Conference * Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI)

International Meetings of Episcopal Conferences

* Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East * Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar * Regional Episcopal Conference of Francophone West Africa *Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa * Association of Episcopal Conferences of the Region of Central Africa * Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa *Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa *Reunion of Episcopal Conferences of West Africa * Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences * Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania ( FCBCO) * Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) * Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) * Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) *Episcopal Secretariate of Central America and Panama

References

External links

List of all episcopal conferences
by Giga-Catholic Information
The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church
by David M. Cheney {{Authority control Catholic canonical structures