Non nova sed nove. Codex Iuris Canonici 1917 on the hundredth anniversary of its promulgation

I would like to express my deep joy that we can participate together in the reflections on the life of the Church here in John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

As far as the topie of the conference is concerned, I would like to begin by saying that the organisers deserve congratulations for addressing such an important issue. After all, one hundred years have passed sińce the promulgation of the first Code of Canon Law, the enactment of which in the 20th century undoubtedly belongs to the most important events in the life of the Church. It was a breakthrough also in the sense that vast ecclesiastical legislation, scattered over numerous collections, casuistic, at times disordered, was collected in a single modern, non-casuistic and very concise collection of canon law. If we take a broader look at the circumstances, we can also say that it was a collection which referred to the best traditions of codification, including the Napoleonie Code and other 19th-century collections, which were created at the time of transformations in the socio-political conditions in Europę, when feudalism was leaving the political stage and a new system emerged, and on the other hand, when the Church, feeling the need for renewing yarious areas of its life, wanted to have a good tool in order carry out its evangelising mission by organising its structures efficiently

Rev. Prof. Dr hak Antoni Dębiński RectorofKUL