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In the Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Conference, Conference of Bishops, or National Conference of Bishops is an official assembly of all the bishops of a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities, over forty existing before the Second Vatican Council.[1] They were first established as formal bodies by the Second Vatican Council (Christus Dominus, 38), and implemented by Pope Paul VI's 1966 motu proprio Ecclesiae sanctae.[2] The operation, authority, and responsibilities of episcopal conferences are currently governed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law (see especially canons 447-459).[3]
The nature of episcopal conferences, and their magisterial authority in particular, was subsequently clarified by Pope John Paul II's 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 recognitio, that is, recognition of approval, of the Holy See, which they will not receive if the majority "is not substantial".[4]
Episcopal conferences are generally defined by geographic borders, with all the bishops in a given country belonging to the same conference — which might also include neighboring countries. Certain tasks and authority are assigned to episcopal conferences, particularly with regard to setting the liturgical norms for the Mass. Episcopal conferences receive their authority under universal law or particular mandates. In certain circumstances, as defined by canon law, the decisions of an episcopal conference are subject to ratification from the Holy See. Individual bishops do not relinquish their authority to the conference, and remain responsible for the governance of their respective diocese.
This list is based on that found in the Annuario Pontifico per l'anno 2010 (Città di Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010).
In addition to the episcopal conferences as defined by the Holy See, there are a number of other regional groupings of bishops:[12]
Vatican City, Kraków, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope, Pope Francis
Guam, United States, Puerto Rico, Saipan, Tinian
New Zealand, Tonga, Washington, D.C., United States, Cook Islands
Mount Lamlam
Vatican City, Holy See, Saint Peter, Pope John Paul II, Catholicism
Anglicanism, Catholic Church, Pope, Pope John Paul II, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Politics, Bible, Roman Catholicism in the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Society
Catholicism, Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Second Vatican Council, Pope, Ten Commandments
Pope, Roman Curia, Holy See, Catholicism, Saint Peter
Tridentine Mass, Bible, Altar cloth, Mass (liturgy), Pope Paul VI