sentences:  From the time of their founding, the Brothers had lived as a religious congregation of diocesan right, which put them entirely under the authority of the Bishop of Brooklyn, who served as their Superior General.In 1989 Pope John Paul II issued a "Decree of Praise", which established the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn as an Institute of Pontifical right.This removed them from the direct authority of the local bishop and made them subject instead to the Holy See.