In the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, a
secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated persons – professing the
Evangelical counselsThe three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty , and obedience . As Jesus of Nazareth expressly stated , they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect"...
of chastity, poverty and obedience – while living in the world, unlike members of a
religious orderA religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
who live in community. It is one of the forms of
consecrated lifeThe Consecrated Life in the Christian tradition, especially the Roman Catholic Church, but also the Anglican Church and to some extent other Christian denominations, is "a stable form of living by which faithful, following Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit, are totally...
recognized in Church law (cf. the Code of Canon Law, can. 710-730).
Canon 710
A secular institute is an institute of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful living in the world strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world especially from within.
Secular institutes first received papal recognition from
Pope Pius XIIPope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
in Provida Mater Ecclesia (1947).
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In the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, a
secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated persons – professing the
Evangelical counselsThe three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty , and obedience . As Jesus of Nazareth expressly stated , they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect"...
of chastity, poverty and obedience – while living in the world, unlike members of a
religious orderA religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
who live in community. It is one of the forms of
consecrated lifeThe Consecrated Life in the Christian tradition, especially the Roman Catholic Church, but also the Anglican Church and to some extent other Christian denominations, is "a stable form of living by which faithful, following Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit, are totally...
recognized in Church law (cf. the Code of Canon Law, can. 710-730).
Canon 710
A secular institute is an institute of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful living in the world strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world especially from within.
Secular institutes first received papal recognition from
Pope Pius XIIPope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
in Provida Mater Ecclesia (1947). Currently, up to 60,000 members belong to more than 20 secular institutes. As
lay ecclesial movementsLay ecclesial movements, also called associations of the faithful, are groups of baptized Catholics organized for the purposes of catechesis, cultural work, mutual support, and/or missionary apostolate. Their members are not all exclusively lay, as some groups include priests as members also...
, secular institutes are included in the
Directory of International Associations of the FaithfulThe Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, published by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, lists the international associations of the faithful in the Catholic Church that have been granted official recognition...
, published by the
Pontifical Council for the LaityThe Pontifical Council for the Laity has the responsibility of assisting the Pope in his dealings with the laity in lay ecclesial movements or individually, and their contributions to the Church. The President of the council is Archbishop Stanisław Cardinal Ryłko...
. However, secular institutes may also have otherwise diocesan priests as members, and some are founded specifically for diocesan priests who wish to take vows and lead a consecrated life while still being
incardinatedIn the Catholic Church, incardination refers to the situation of a member of the clergy being placed under the jurisdiction of a particular bishop or other religious superior...
in their diocese and working in the diocesan framework.
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