Principio di rappresentatività e accesso al voto nelle associazioni dei fedeli. Profili canonistici.

The general decree of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, issued on 11 June 2021 to regulate the exercise of government in international associations of the faithful, insists on the regulation of duration and number of mandates, the principle of representativeness of the governing bodies and access to the vote of all plene iure members in the process of establishing governing bodies at the international level. This study takes the opportunity to delve deeper, from a canonical and comparative perspective, into the representativeness in its theoretical assumptions and application mechanisms. Thus, after a brief reflection on the concrete need for representativeness in correspondence with the often plural nature of international associations of the faithful, is examined the complexity of the notion of representativeness between democratic paradigms and the model of incarnation proposed by some authors as more equivalent to the application of the principle in the Church. A look at the historical context and the progressive structuring of representativeness, as well as a descriptive analysis of the use of the principle in the current Code of Canon Law, both as regards hierarchical communities and as regards associative communities, have helped to identify a definitive concept and conception of representativeness from the profile or model of the configuration, functional to guaranteeing concrete participation and reasonableness in the governance of communities. Finally, the study concludes with some reflections on the interpretative criteria for a correct applicability of the representativeness and regulation of access to the vote in the face of possible challenges connected to the not always homogeneous reality of international associations of the faithful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]