I precetti ecclesiali – la pastorale e il diritto tra universale e particolare
The Precepts of the Church – the Law and the Pastoral Care between the Universal and the Particular

Summary/Abstract: The article is to illustrate the development of this important part of the Canon law and catholic teaching in the universal Church and in Poland.The rst part outlines the history of this catechetical formulation of basic catholic ob- ligations, from the time of the Council of Trent until mid 20th century, including the perspective of the Church in Poland. Fundamental issues, namely the obligation of cel- ebrating Sunday, Easter duty or the fasting precept, have been the same throughout the catholic world, even though their speci c wording evolved depending on time and place.The second part touches upon the formulation of the commandements of the Church in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This fundamental document of the catholic doctrine was rst published in French in 1992, while its revised version in Latin was promulgated in 1997. Finally, in 2005 there was issued Compedium of the Catechism. The article contains an analysis of exact wording of the Church precepts in all above mentioned editions of the catechism. The matter is of great importance, since the it refers to the rst o cial and universal formulation of the precepts.The third part deals with the Polish version of the commandements, promulgated by the Polish Episcopal Conference in 2003. Polish bishops took advantage of their right to adjust the universal text to speci c needs of particular Church. With approval of the Holy See, the Polish pastors dispensed from certain feasts of precept and introduced the obligation to abstain from dances during Lent and on Fridays throughout the year. In the 2014 revised version the latter ban was lifted and since then only Lent has been the period of party abstinence.Not only does the article highlight the correlation between canon law and pastoral prac- tice of the Church, but refers to the role of implementation of the universal law in the life of particular Churches.

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