U.S. Rota

Last week Pope Pius XII conferred on his Apostolic Delegate to the U.S. power to appoint substitutes for the Sacred Roman Rota (court to which Catholic cases from all over the world are appealed). This is the first time in modern history that the Vatican--final earthly tribunal for all things Roman Catholic--has granted such authority to any one outside Rome.

The Apostolic Delegate, Most Rev. Amleto Giovanni Cicognani of Washington, can now assign appeals from marriage cases to any archdiocesan court in the U.S., instead of forwarding them to the Roman Rota for decision. Marriage cases (socalled because the Catholic Church does not recognize divorce, though it sometimes grants annulments) make up most of the Rota's docket.

Because so many countries are now largely cut off from it by the war, the Vatican may soon make similar delegations of authority elsewhere.

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