This piece from the Vatican Information Service points out four ways in which the Code of Canon Law have implemented conciliar teaching:
CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VATICAN COUNCIL II AND CODE OF CANON LAW
Vatican City, 22 January, 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Press
Office of the Holy See, the schedule for the Study Day “The Code: A
Reform Desired and Requested by the Council” (25 January, Pius X Hall,
Rome) marking the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of
Canon Law was presented. The study day has been organized by the
Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the International Institute
of Canon Law and Comparative Studies of Religion in Lugano, Switzerland
and is sponsored by the Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) Vatican
Foundation and the John Paul II Foundation. Participating in the
conference were Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the
Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta,
secretary of that dicastery, and Msgr. Giuseppe Antonio Scotti,
president of the Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) Vatican Foundation.
Cardinal Coccopalmerio began his address with the recollection that
Blessed John XXIII, in his speech convening Vatican Council II in 1959,
explained that the Council’s legal scope was to bring about the awaited
revision of the 1917 Code. “In his broad perspective, the Pope saw
clearly that the revision of the Code had to be guided by the new
ecclesiology that emerged from an ecumenical and a global summit such as
the Council.” Blessed John Paul II, under whose pontificate the Code
was promulgated, also repeated that “the council’s ecclesiological
structure clearly required a renewed formulation of its laws”.
“As John Paul II emphasized at the beginning of the Apostolic
Constitution ‘Sacrae disciplinae leges’, the reason for the close
relationship between Vatican Council II and the Code of Canon Law was
that the 1983 Code was the culmination of Vatican II … in two ways: on
the one hand, it embraces the Council, solemnly reproposing fundamental
institutions and major innovations and, on the other, establishing
positive norms for implementing the Council.”
The president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts then
cited various examples of the strong bond between Vatican Council II and
the Code of Canon Law.
The first is the “doctrine regarding the episcopate and the
relationship between the episcopate and the primate, that is, episcopal
collegiality. This is not entirely new doctrine in the deep
consciousness of the Church but rather a happy discovery. The Code
firstly, in canons 330–341, represents this clearly, and secondly, in
canons 342–348, accompanies it with the positive view that constitutes
the structure of the Synod of Bishops, allowing effective implementation
of the structure of episcopal collegiality.”
A second example is the “Council’s teaching on the laity and
therefore on the appropriate and active mission of the lay faithful in
the life of the Church. Once again, this is not absolutely new but more a
rediscovery … through a series of regulations … regarding the diocesan
pastoral council or … the parochial pastoral council. They are
structures that allow the faithful laity to effectively participate in
the pastoral decisions of the bishop or the pastor. This innovation is
also the eloquent voice of the faithful relationship between Council and
Code.”
“A third example may come from the conception of the parish as
presented by the Council and implemented by the Code. Ultimately, the
Council conceives of the parish as a community of believers, not as a
structure or a territory. This represents an important innovation with
respect to the previous point of view. The Code receives this concept,
particularly in canon 515, and sanctions it with the positive
regulations of the following canons.”
A final example of doctrine and innovation provided by the Council in
the area of ecumenism “resides in the conciliar documents ‘Lumen
gentium’, ‘Orientalium Ecclesiarum’, and ‘Unitatis redintegratio’, which
show the doctrine of ecclesial communion as still imperfect yet real
and existent between the Catholic Church and other Churches or
non-Catholic communities. This is also a fact of incalculable value and
scope already found in the Council and then later in the Code (cf. canon
844), with the possibility of welcoming non-Catholic Christians, even
if under specific conditions, into the sacraments of the Catholic
Church.
“In conclusion,” finished the cardinal, “we can affirm that the happy
union between Vatican Council II and the Code of Canon Law has produced
fruits of renewal in the life of the Church in many areas and on many
levels.”