What is a public juridic person? In its simplest terms, a PJP is the church’s equivalent of a corporation in civil law – a legal entity set up according to approved statutes for a specific purpose. The PJPs we are already familiar with are entities like a parish, a diocese or a religious congregation; although we have not known them as PJPs, that is what they are in church law. They are usually clustered around a specific amalgamation of people or property and are legally constituted to continue even when those responsible for them change or die.