Apostolic Constitutions

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Saints_Alive

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An Apostolic Constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope.

In Veterum Sapientia Pope JXXII decrees and commands a few things.
adoremus.org/VeterumSapientia.html

My question is, can an Apostolic Constitution simply be ignored at will ? Can a pope just ignore it and offer not one word of explanation ? Do they expire at the moment the pope who issued it dies ?
 
An Apostolic Constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope.

In Veterum Sapientia Pope JXXII decrees and commands a few things.
adoremus.org/VeterumSapientia.html

My question is, can an Apostolic Constitution simply be ignored at will ? Can a pope just ignore it and offer not one word of explanation ? Do they expire at the moment the pope who issued it dies ?
It is hard to answer questions presented as pure hypotheticals in this way. The general answers here are yes and no (or it depends), but mostly no; yes; and no. Concretely, though, what are you asking about?
 
An Apostolic Constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope.

In Veterum Sapientia Pope JXXII decrees and commands a few things.
adoremus.org/VeterumSapientia.html

My question is, can an Apostolic Constitution simply be ignored at will ? Can a pope just ignore it and offer not one word of explanation ? Do they expire at the moment the pope who issued it dies ?
An apostolic constitution is a statement of law, usually based on some doctrinal point, but not necessarily. No pope is bound by apostolic constitutions. Popes are only bound by revealed doctrine and morals.

Pope John Paul had issued an apostolic constitution on the election of a pope. Pope Benedict revised it. Pope Francis revised it again at the moment of his election.
 
It can’t be ignored by people who are bound to observe it unless they are dispensed from it, or unless the Pope who promulgated it or a new Pope suppresses it or replaces it or revises pertinent parts of it.

In a sense an AP can’t be ignored because anyone who legally not heeding one is technically not bound by it for some reason or another.
 
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