[1] One of the shorter documents of the Council, the decree was approved by a vote of 2,321 to 4 of the assembled bishops, and promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 28 October 1965.
As is customary for Church documents, the title is taken from the first words (incipit) of the decree: "of Perfect Charity" in Latin.
Because of the broad variety of religious communities with their different histories, characteristics, customs, and missions, the Council did not give specific indications, and left to each individual community the authority to determine what needed to be changed in accord with the spirit of their founders, the needs of modern life, and the situations where they lived and worked.
On August 6, 1966 Pope Paul VI issued Ecclesiae Sanctae, an apostolic letter on the implementation of certain conciliar documents, including Perfectae Caritatis.
[3] The period that followed the promulgation of Perfectae Caritatis was marked by a huge amount of experimentation in religious life.