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The Roman Rota, officially the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota (Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae), and prior to the 14th century, the Apostolic Court of Audience, is an appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church, for both Latin-rite members and the Eastern-rite members. It serves as a collegiate (third instance) court of appeals after judgements given by lower tribunals (diocesan or metropolitan), and hears predominately ecclesiastical matrimonial cases. The Rota is part of the Catholic Church's legal system, the oldest in the West still in use. The name comes from Rota ("wheel") because the judges, called auditors, originally met in a round room to hear cases.

Constitution
The pope selects Prelate Auditors of the Rota from recognized ecclesiastical judges serving various dioceses around the world, or those who have served in the Roman Curia in other roles involving canon law. The pope designates one of these auditors as the dean,, the head of the tribunal. However, the dean is primus inter pares ("first among equals") and their rulings do not hold any more weight than the other auditors. On March 29 2021, the serving dean, Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, retired after eight years of service and Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, who had served as an auditor for the Rota since 2007, as dean.

The Rota issues its decrees and sentences in Latin. The Rota judges cases in a panel (called a turnus) of three auditors or more, depending on the case's complexity, assigned by the dean of the tribunal.

Name
Until the 14th century, the court was known as the Apostolic Court of Audience. The first recorded use of the term Rota, which may have referred to the wheel-shaped arrangement of the benches used by the court in the great hall at Avignon, is in Thomas Fastolf's Decisiones rotae, consisting of reports on thirty-six cases heard at the Court of Audience in Avignon between December 1336 and February 1337.

Its first usage in a papal bull was in 1418. It has also been suggested that the term Rota comes from the porphyry wheel in the center of Avignon marble floor, or even from the wheel-like cases in which parchment roll records were kept.

Formation and early years
There is debate about when the Rota was founded as there is no date officially recorded. However, there are records which reference legal functions in 1171 and it's theorised that the Rota evolved from these early proceedings. There may have been an influence from the notaries of the Church (Notari Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae) who took notes, drew up documents and kept the records of the proceedings in Roman courts, which are recorded early as the fourth century.

An important stage in the Rota's development was the constitution Ratio Iuris, issued by Pope John XXII in 1331, which laid out the first written regulations. This is also when it was given its first settled home in Avignon in France, home at the time to the Avignon Papacy.

Several Popes have begun their ecclesiastical careers within the Rota. Innocent X was a member of the Rota for twenty-five years: first as an assistant to his uncle, Auditor Geronoimo Pamphili, then as an Consistorial Advocate in 1601 until 1604, when he became a Prelate Auditor. Pope Clement VIII was also an Advocate and then a Prelate Auditor.

Following the Council of Trent in the mid-sixteenth century, the Rota's role and importance increased dramatically.

Decline
Until the Risorgimento and the loss of the Papal States in 1870, the Rota was a civil tribunal and its judgements had the status of law in the Papal States.

The Roman Rota "practically ceased to act after 1870, although some new auditors [were] appointed [after that year]"

Restoration to present day
With the Apostolic Constitution Sapienti Consilio on 29 June 1908, Pope Pius X restored the Roman Rota.

Since at least 1961, the Rota has been based in the Palazzo della Cancelleria, along with the other courts of the Holy See: the Apostolic Penitentiary and the Apostolic Signatura.

In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI issued the motu proprio Quaerit semper ("Always Sought") which declared Rota has had exclusive capacity to dispense from marriages ratum sed non consummatum ("ratified but not consummated") and examine cases about the nullity of sacred ordination. This had formerly been a responsibility of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Reforms
Pope Francis has focused on ensuring wider availability to the Tribunal for those who need it at an affordable cost, as well as simplifying the process of nullity to remove barriers for those without a wide availability of advocates or knowledge of canon law. In September 2015, he released the motu proprios Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus ("The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge") for the Latin-rite church and Mitis et misericors Iesus ("The Meek and Merciful Jesus") for the Eastern Catholic churches. These introduced changes to the appeals process, such as removing the obligation that a declaration of nullity be automatically appealed. This allows only one executive sentence in favor of nullity when the bishop or judge had certainty that the marriage was not valid (without loss of the right of the parties or defender of the bond to appeal), most applicable to cases where both parties are seeking a declaration of nullity, and emphasising the process should be free or as close to free as possible.

In March 2020, Pope Francis released a motu proprio stating lawyers registered as lawyers with the Roman Rota must also be registered in the bar association in their state of residence, with a proven knowledge of canon law.

Overview
The judicial year of the Roman Rota begins in January, traditionally with a liturgical ceremony in the Apostolic Palace and an audience with the current pope. The pope gives a prepared speech, which can cover current topics considered particularly important, canon law, previous decisions or relevant guidance for the year ahead; some popes have used these audiences to announce changes to the Rota's proceedings.

The Rota is the highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See for judicial trials in the Catholic Church, and has the power to pass judgements on behalf of the pope, the supreme ecclesiastical judge. The pope can also pass judgement personally,; in fact, this was the earliest known form of ecclesiastical justice.

The Rota's main function is that of an appellate tribunal, ordinarily reviewing decisions of lower courts if the initial court (first instance, such as diocesan or metropolitan tribunals) and the first appellate court (second instance) do not agree on the outcome of a case. However, any party to an initial decision before a court of the Latin Church (and some Eastern Churches) has the right to file a second instance appeal directly to the Rota.

In certain cases, the Rota serves as a tribunal of first instance (known in Anglo-American common law as exclusive original jurisdiction), such as any contentious case in which a Bishop of the Latin Church is a defendant. Furthermore, under canon law the Holy See has direct jurisdiction, rather than local dioceses, over cases involving heads of state or their children; particularly if these involve marital issues, they come under the purview of the Rota.

A judgment of the Rota can, in certain circumstances, be vacated by the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest administrative court in the Catholic Church. In these situations, the legal procedure or process used by the judges of the Rota (not the merits of the case itself) are on trial before the Signatura: as such, it is only able to grant the petitioner a second trial to be held before a new turnus of the Rota if they were found to have erred in procedure (de procedendo).

The Rota's guidelines for proceedings are outlined in Normae Romanae Rotae Tribunalis ("The Rules of the Tribunal of the Rota"), promulgated in 1994 by Pope John Paul II, who had been a vocal proponent of its importance.

Only advocates (canon lawyers, also known as iurisperitus or procurators'') who hold specific credentials can represent parties before the Tribunal. They must hold a doctor's degree from an approved institution, then undertake three years of post-doctoral study at the Studium Romanae Rotae, the Roman Rota's associated law school, and pass a qualifying examination with a final thesis in Latin to receive a Diploma of Rotal Advocate. Any notaries of the Rota must also have a Diploma of Rotal Advocate along with appropriate juridical experience.

Main role
The Rota's caseload is dominated by petitions for ecclesiastical declaration of nullities (whilst similar, these differ from civil annulments ), although it has jurisdiction to hear any other type of judicial and non-administrative case concerning canon law.

It is possible to appeal directly to the Rota in the first instance for a nullity petition, but this is not recommended as the tribunal can be slower and more expensive than proceeding in a local tribunal. In one exceptional case, it took the Rota twenty years to decide whether a marriage was valid, but two-to-four years is considered normal.

The Defender of the Bond may request a re-trial even if the Rota rules in favour of a marriage nullity if they believe this decision is incorrect.

Influence over lower tribunals
The Rota's rulings and reasons for their decisions have no official binding precedent on future cases as canon law does not have the concept of stare decisis, where lower courts are governed by previous judgements from higher ones.

However, because canon law states that if there is no law concerning an issue, the Roman Curia's conclusions should be considered supplementary laws, the Rota's decisions hold considerable authority and are considered paramount. In 1986, John Paul II stated that the Roman Rota has particular influence and authority over regional ecclesiastical tribunals, who should draw upon Rotal decisions as a point of reference for their own proceedings. This idea of the Rota's authority over all tribunal proceedings in the church has further been noted by Benedict XVI.

The Vatican releases collections of the Rota's decisions, with identifying details removed, every year (although ten years after each case was decided), which are used as sources for canon lawyers and tribunal judges to keep their knowledge up-to-date.

Styles of address
The dean of the Rota, even if not already consecrated a bishop, are addressed with the traditional title of "Your Excellency" (Excellentia Tua). All prelate auditors of the Rota, who are Honorary Prelates, use the prefix title "Monsignor" and are addressed as the "Most Reverend Monsignor".

Auditors
The active auditors of the Rota, with their dates of appointment by the pope, are:


 * Alejandro Arellano Cedillo (Dean) (25 April 2007; named Dean 30 March 2021)
 * Maurice Monier (Pro-Dean) (9 January 1995; named Pro-Dean 12 December 2016)
 * Giordano Caberletti (12 November 1996)
 * Grzegorz Erlebach (4 November 1997)
 * Jair Ferreira Pena (8 February 1999)
 * Michael Xavier Leo Arokiaraj (25 April 2007)
 * David Maria A. Jaeger (3 June 2011)
 * Vito Angelo Todisco (4 October 2011)
 * Felipe Heredia Esteban (4 October 2011)
 * Davide Salvatori (30 December 2011)
 * Alejandro W. Bunge (17 April 2013)
 * Antonio Bartolacci (23 January 2014)
 * Manuel Saturino da Costa Gomes (23 January 2014)
 * Pietro Milite (9 January 2015)
 * Miroslav Konštanc Adam (22 March 2016)
 * José Fernando Mejía Yáñez (22 March 2016)
 * Francesco Viscome (21 November 2016)
 * Hans-Peter Fischer (20 July 2017)
 * Robert Gołębiowski (19 July 2019)

Officers

 * Pierangelo Pietracatella, (Chief of Office)
 * Tomasz Kubiczek, (Promoter of Justice)
 * Antonios Chouweifaty, (Adjunct Promoter of Justice)
 * Maria Fratangelo, (Defender of the Bond)
 * Francesco Ibba, (Substitute Defender of the Bond)
 * Alessandro Recchia, (Second Notary)
 * Domenico Teti, (Third Notary)
 * Dr. Daniele Cancilla, (Head of the Chancellory)