Promulgation of New Decrees (1916)

 [192] Qu. Does the new decree in regard to dancing bind pastors as soon as it is made known through the Catholic press, even if the Ordinary has not promulgated it in the diocese?

Resp. Since 1909, to make a Roman law or decree binding in foro externo it is sufficient that it be published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. The publication of a document in that periodical takes the place of the dispatch of an official copy to the bishops, as was the custom before 1909. The presumption is that a decree enacted and promulgated by the Holy See will be put into execution by the Ordinary. If, in exceptional cases, for reasons which he must make known to the Holy See, he suspends the application of a Roman decree, he [193] must expressly notify his diocese. A clergyman therefore who reads a decree in the Acta, or who, through the Catholic press, knows that it is published in the Acta, is bound, without further notification, by the provisions which it enacts.

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Source: "Promulgation of New Decrees," Ecclesiastical Review 55, no. 2 (August 1916): 192–193.