The vast majority belong to the Latin (Western) Rite Church. The twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches have about 16.5 million adherents combined. They are governed by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (1990), together with their own “particular laws.” The four ancient, Eastern patriarchal sees of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople (Byzantium), together with the Western patriarchate of Rome, were recognized by the earliest ecumenical councils as having a special…