Annuario Pontificio

Consecrated Life, referred to also as Religious Life, is a way of Christian living within the Catholic Church that, publicly professed, is recognized by Church Law (canons 573-746 of the Code of Canon Law). Those who profess it are not part of the hierarchy. They commit themselves, for love of God, to observe as binding obligations what the Christian Gospel proposes as counsels (Evangelical Counsels) rather than commands. Most join what are called Religious Institutes (cf. canons 573-602, 605-709), often referred ...

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