ABSTRACT
The Eastern Catholic churches, sometimes unfortunately still called Uniate churches, constitute, together with the Latin (rite) Church, the Catholic Church. These churches came into full communion with the Catholic Church from the sixteenth century onwards. They accepted the Catholic doctrine of faith but conserved their own rites, which also include ecclesiastical discipline. Twenty-two Eastern Catholic churches are recognised within the Catholic Church. They are governed by their own laws. On the one hand, these laws are common either to the whole Catholic Church or to all these Eastern Churches and can be found, for instance, in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches 1990. On the other hand, these churches maintain their own traditions in the form of particular laws that are in force only within each of these churches. This chapter presents some characteristics of the laws common to all Eastern Churches before examining the extent to which the principles of Christian law, formulated in the ecumenical Statement of 2016, are compatible with these laws. Finally, it seeks to make some general observations concerning the Statement.
