Abstract / DOI
The Codex Iuris Canonici as the Last Document of Vatican II? The Legal Heritage of Pope John Paul II. Pope John Paul II is of outstanding importance not only for his doctrinal statements but also for his legislative activity. His pontificate saw the final editing and promulgation of the Codex Iuris Canonici of 1983, which reflects the normative reception of the Second Vatican Council. His term of office also saw the drafting and promulgation of the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, which, in implementation of the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, expresses the equality of the Eastern Catholic Churches and, together with the Code of the Latin Church, forms the new Corpus Iuris Canonici of the Catholic Church. Of importance is not less the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus on the reorganisation of the Roman Curia. The aim of John Paul II's legislative activity was to give the Church, in implementation of the Second Vatican Council, a legal order appropriate to her theologicall based selfimage, in which law is an instrument for the communication of salvation.