The article presents the norms of the Latin Church on adoption. In particular, it discusses five replies from the Holy See which have been given since 2003. They concern adoption by a homosexual couple, the determination of the religious affiliation and the Church sui iuris of a minor who has been adopted by Catholic parents, the recording of an adoption in the baptismal register, and the adoption of a minor by a celibate cleric or by a religious.

In the light of canon 392 §1, the article attempts to study the need for unity of the Church and the role which its defender and promoter, the diocesan bishop, plays in its realisation. This thelogical-juridical aspect is analysed by following the path of the Magisterium of the Second Vatican Council and of the various post-conciliar pontifical documents, as well as by considering some norms of the current Code and recent laws.

The Author explores the canonical meaning of vigilance, by means of detailed analysis of the Conciliar and postconciliar texts. This research into the meaning of  vigilance follows two lines of enquiry: one concerns the ecclesial vocation of the Bishop in relation to his Diocese, and the other looks for the meaning of to be vigilant within the individual documents, considered in their interrelatedness. The conclusions reached by the Author are technical-pastoral: just as the diocesan curia is an expression of the Bishop’s pastoral care for the Diocese and, at the same time, it embodies his pastoral charity by due compliance with his legitimate directives, so too does the ecclesiastical tribunal. The same pastoral concern, which animates the Bishop’s vigilance over his curia and the other ecclesiastical bodies under his authority, will animate his vigilance regarding his tribunal. It would be reductive to think of vigilance in technical terms only; rather, it is above all a question of pastoral care whose ultimate criteria coincide with the mission of the Church and with the diocesan pastoral program. This does not exclude «technical» vigilance, in the exercise of which the Bishop will have to be assisted by suitably qualified persons, where, that is, he does not happen to be one himself.