Why does the laity no longer ratify the appointment of Bishops?

  • Thread starter Thread starter vish1990
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vish1990 said:
According to Canon IV of the Council of Nicaea, 'The metropolitan" had to ratify the appointment of a Bishop for it to be valid.

I’m having trouble finding why this is no longer the practice. Any resources for me?

faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Canon%20Law/Nicea/CanonsCouncilNiceae.htm#CANON II
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“The metropolitan” is not “laity”. Metropolitan is (usually) the archbishop. For example, the Pope is the “Metropolitan of the Roman province”.

Another point is that it is not that clear if the canon concerns election of a new bishop, or his consecration.

Anyway, assuming that it does speak about election, most likely now the Popes usually appoint bishops directly because now it is no longer impractical to have the bishops appointed by the Pope himself. At the time this canon was written, just sending the Pope a message saying that a bishop has to be appointed would have taken a lot of time.
 
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