CHAPTER V.
ANOINTING OF THE SICK
§ 1. By the sacramental anointing of the sick performed with prayer by a priest, Christ\’s faithful who are gravely ill and sincerely contrite receive grace, by which, strengthened by the hope of eternal reward and freed from sins, they are disposed to amend their life and are helped to overcome their sickness or to suffer it patiently.
§ 2. In those Churches in which there is the custom for several priests together to administer the sacrament of the anointing of the sick care should be taken to preserve this custom as much as possible.
Christ\’s faithful are to be eager to receive the anointing of the sick whenever they are gravely ill; pastors of souls and the relatives are to see to it that the sick find relief in this sacrament at a seasonable time.
§ 1. All priests, and only priests, validly administer the anointing of the sick.
§ 2. The administration of the anointing of the sick belongs to the parish priest, the parochial vicar and to all other priests as regards those committed to their care in virtue of their office. Any priest, however, can licitly administer this sacrament with at least the presumed permission of those mentioned; indeed, in case of necessity he must even do so.
Christ\’s faithful who are gravely ill and are unconscious or have no more the use of reason, are presumed to want to have this sacrament administered to them in danger of death or also at another time according to the discretion of the priest.
The oil for use in the sacrament of the anointing the sick is to be blessed, and that by the priest himself who administers the sacrament, unless the particular law of his Church sui iuris says otherwise.
The anointings are to be carefully performed with the words, order and the manner prescribed in the liturgical books; in case of necessity, however, only a single anointing with the proper formula is enough.
CHAPTER VI.
SACRED ORDINATION
Through the sacramental ordination performed by the bishop sacred ministers are constituted through the working of the power of the Holy Spirit; and they are accredited with and they share in varying degrees in the task and the power entrusted to his apostles by Christ the Lord to announce the gospel, to shepherd and sanctify the people of God.
ART. I.
THE MINISTER OF SACRED ORDINATION
Only a bishop validly administers sacred ordination by the imposition of hands and by the prayers prescribed by the Church.
Episcopal ordination is reserved according to the norm of law to the Roman pontiff, patriarch or metropolitan, so that no other bishop is permitted to ordain anyone a bishop unless it is previously established that there is a legitimate mandate.
§ 1. A bishop should be ordained by three bishops, except in case of extreme necessity.
§ 2. If bishops of the same Church sui iuris as the first ordaining bishop cannot be present, the second and the third bishop can be of another Church sui iuris.
A candidate to the diaconate or presbyterate should be ordained by his own eparchial bishop or by another bishop with lawful dimissorial letters.
§ 1. The proper eparchial bishop in the matter of the sacred ordination of one who is to be ascribed in a certain eparchy, is the bishop of the eparchy in which the candidate has domicile, or of the eparchy in whose service the candidate has declared in writing that he wants to serve; in the matter of the sacred ordination of one who is already ascribed in an eparchy, it is the bishop of that eparchy.
§ 2. An eparchial bishop cannot ordain a candidate subject to him who is ascribed in another Church sui iuris without the permission of the Apostolic See; if, however, it is a case of a candidate who is ascribed in a patriarchal Church and has a domicile or quasi-domicile within the territorial boundaries of the same Church, the patriarch can also grant this permission.
In another eparchy, a bishop is prohibited from celebrating a sacred ordination without the permission of the eparchial bishop, unless the particular law of a patriarchal Church, with regard to the patriarch, establishes otherwise.
§ 1. With due regard for cann. 472, 537, and 560, §1, the following can give the dimissorial letter:
1° one\’s proper eparchial bishop;
2° the administrator of a patriarchal Church and also, with the consent of the eparchial consultors, the administrator of an eparchy.
§ 2. The administrator of a patriarchal Church is not to grant dimissorial letters to those who were rejected by the patriarch, nor the administrator of eparchy to those who were rejected by the eparchial bishop.
Dimissorial letters are not granted unless all the testimonials which are required by law have been obtained.
Dimissorial letters can be sent from the proper eparchial bishop to any bishop of the same Church sui iuris ; not, however, to a bishop of a Church different than that of the andidate, without the permission of those mentioned in can. 748, § 2.
Dimissorial letters can be circumscribed with restrictions or revoked by the one who granted them or by his successor, but once they have been granted, they do not cease to be operative when the authority of the one granting them ceases.
ART. II.
THE SUBJECT OF SACRED ORDINATION
Only a baptized man is able to receive sacred ordination validly.
The eparchial bishop and the major superior can only for a most serious cause, although a hidden one, forbid a deacon who is subject to him and who is destined for the presbyterate from being advanced to the presbyterate, with due regard for recourse according to the norm of law.
It is unlawful to compel anyone in any way for any reason whatever to receive sacred orders or to turn away from orders anyone who is suitable according to the norm of law.
He who refuses to receive a higher sacred order cannot be forbidden the exercise of the sacred order he has received, unless he is hindered by a canonical impediment or there is some other serious obstacle in the judgement of the eparchial bishop or the major superior.
1° REQUIREMENTS FOR CANDIDATES FOR SACRED ORDINATION
§ 1. For a person to be ordained licitly the following are required:
1° reception of chrismation with holy myron;
2° good conduct and physical and psychological qualities in keeping with the reception of the sacred order;
3° the age prescribed by law;
4° due knowledge;
5° reception of the lower orders according to the norm of the particular law of each Church sui iuris;
6° observance of the interstices prescribed by particular law.
§ 2. It is furthermore required that the candidate not be impeded according to the norm of can. 762.
§ 3. The particular law of each Church sui iuris or special norms established by the Apostolic See are to be followed in admitting married man to sacred orders.
§ 1. The age prescribed for the diaconate is twenty-three years completed, for the presbyterate twenty-four years completed, with due regard for the particular law of a Church sui iuris requiring a higher age.
§ 2. Dispensation beyond a year from the age required by common law is reserved to the patriarch, if it is a case of a candidate who has a domicile or quasi-domicile
within the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church; otherwise, to the Apostolic See.
§ 1. It is permissible to ordain a deacon only after he has successfully
completed the fourth year of curriculum of philosophical-theological studies, unless the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church or the council of hierarchs determines otherwise.
§ 2. If it is a case of a candidate who is not destined for the priesthood, it is permitted to ordain him deacon only after he has successfully completed the third year of studies mentioned in can. 354; if however it happens later that he is admitted to the priesthood, he must first complete his theological studies in the appropriate manner.
For a candidate for the order of diaconate or presbyterate to be licitly ordained, he must submit to the proper eparchial bishop or to his major superior a declaration signed in his own hand, in which he attests that he will of his own accord and freely receive the sacred order and accept the obligations attached to it and that he will devote himself perpetually to the ecclesiastical ministry, requesting at the same time that he be admitted to receive the sacred order.
2° IMPEDIMENTS FROM RECEIVING OR EXERCISING SACRED ORDERS
§ 1. The following are impeded from receiving sacred orders:
1° a person who labours under some form of insanity or psychic defect due to which, after consultation with experts, he is judged incapable of rightly carrying out the ministry;
2° a person who has committed the delict of apostasy, heresy or schism;
3° a person who has attempted marriage, even only a civil one, either while he was impeded from entering marriage due to an existing matrimonial bond, sacred orders or a public perpetual vow of chastity, or with a woman bound by a valid marriage or by the same type of vow;
4° a person who has committed voluntary homicide or who has procured an abortion effectively and all persons who positively co-operated in either;
5° a person who has seriously and maliciously mutilated himself or another person or a person who has attempted suicide;
6° a person who has performed an act of orders which has been reserved to those who are in the order of episcopacy or presbyterate while the person either lacked that order or had been forbidden its exercise by a canonical penalty.
7° a person who holds an office or position of administration which is forbidden to clerics and for which he must render an account until he becomes free by relinquishing the office and position of administration and has rendered an account of it;
8° a neophyte, unless he has been sufficiently proven in the judgement of the hierarch.
§ 2. The acts which are mentioned in § 1, nn. 2-6 do not produce impediments unless they were serious and external sins perpetrated after baptism.
The following are impeded from exercising sacred orders:
1° a person who unlawfully received sacred orders while under an impediment from receiving sacred orders;
2° a person who committed a crime or an act which is mentioned in can. 762, § 1, nn. 2-6;
3° a person who is afflicted with insanity or with another psychological illness which is mentioned in can. 762, § 1, n. 1, until the hierarch, after consultation with an expert, permits the exercise of that sacred order.
Impediments for receiving or exercising sacred orders cannot be established by particular law; custom introducing a new impediment or contrary to an impediment established by common law is reprobated.
Ignorance of impediments does not exempt them.
Impediments are multiplied when they arise from different causes, not however by the repetition of the same cause, unless it is a case of the impediment arising from the commission of voluntary homicide or from having effecively procured an abortion.
§ 1. The eparchial bishop or the hierarch of an institute of consecrated life can dispense his subjects from the impediments to receiving or exercising sacred orders except in the following cases:
1° if the fact on which the impediment is based has been brought to the judicial forum;
2° from the impediments mentioned in can. 762, § 1, nn. 2-4.
§ 2. Dispensation from these impediments is reserved to the patriarch for candidates or clerics who have a domicile or quasi-domicile within the territorial
boundaries of the Church over which he presides; otherwise, it is reserved to the Apostolic See.
§ 3. A confessor has the same powers of dispensing in the more urgent occult cases, in which the competent authority cannot be reached and there is a danger of grave harm or infamy, but only to ensure that the penitents can licitly exercise the sacred orders already received, with due regard for the responsibility of approaching that authority as soon as possible.
§ 1. In the petition for obtaining a dispensation, all of the impediments are to be indicated; a general dispensation, however, is valid also for those impediments which were omitted in good faith except those mentioned in can. 762, § 1, n. 4, and those taken to the judicial forum, not however for those omitted in bad faith.
§ 2. If it is a case of the impediment arising from voluntary homicide or from the procurement of an abortion, the number of offences must also be mentioned for the dispensation to be valid.
§ 3. A general dispensation from impediments to receive sacred orders is valid for all orders.
ART. III.
THOSE THINGS THAT MUST PRECEDE SACRED ORDINATION
§ 1. The authority who admits a candidate to sacred ordination should obtain:
1° the declaration which is mentioned in can. 761, also a certificate of the last sacred ordination or, if it is the case of the first ordination, a certificate of baptism and chrismation with holy myron;
2° if the candidate is married, a certificate of marriage and the written consent of his wife;
3° a certificate of the studies done;
4° regarding the good conduct of the candidate, testimonial letter of the rector of the seminary or of the superior of the institute of consecrated life or of the presbyter to whom the candidate was referred outside the seminary;
5° the testimonial letter mentioned in can. 771 §3;
6° testimonial letters, if it is considered expedient, of other eparchial bishops or of superiors of institutes of consecrated life, where the candidate resided for some time, concerning the qualities of the candidate and his freedom from all canonical impediments.
§ 2. These documents are to be kept in the archive of the same authority.
The ordaining bishop faced with a lawful dimissorial letter stating that the candidate is suited to receive the sacred order, can abide by this attestation, but is not bound to do so. If indeed in conscience he considers the candidate unsuitable, he is not to ordain him.
§ 1. The names of the candidates for promotion to sacred orders are to be made known publicly in the parish church of each candidate according to the norm of particular law.
§ 2. All Christ\’s faithful are bound by the obligation to disclose any impediments they know to the eparchial bishop or to the parish priest before the sacred ordination.
§ 3. The eparchial bishop shall charge the parish priest who gives the public notice and, if it seems good, also another presbyter, to inquire diligently about the life and conduct of the andidates from trustworthy persons and to send testimonial letters to the eparchial curia concerning that enquiry and notice.
§ 4. The eparchial bishop should not omit to make other investigations, even private, if he judges it opportune.
Every candidate for promotion to sacred ordination must make a spiritual retreat as determined by particular law.
ART, IV.
TIME, PLACE, REGISTRATION
AND CERTIFICATION OF SACRED ORDINATION
Sacred ordinations should be celebrated with the greatest number of Christian faithful possible in a church on a Sunday or feast day, unless a just cause suggests otherwise.
§ 1. After the celebration of the sacred ordination the names of those ordained, of the ordaining bishop, the place and date of the sacred ordination are to be recorded in a special book to be kept in the archive of the eparchial curia.
§ 2. The ordaining bishop is to give an authentic certificate of the reception of ordination to each of the ordained. Those who were ordained with dimissorial letters by a bishop should submit the certificate to their own eparchial bishop or major superior so that the sacred ordination can be recorded in a special register that is to be kept in the archive.
The eparchial bishop or the major superior is to send a notification of the ordination of each deacon to the parish priest of the parish where the baptism of the ordained was registered.
CHAPTER VII.
MARRIAGE
§ 1. By the marriage covenant, founded by the Creator and furnished with His laws, a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of their whole life by an irrevocable personal consent; it is of its own nature ordered to the well-being of the spouses and to the generation and education of children.
§ 2. By Christ\’s institution a valid marriage between baptized persons is by that very fact a sacrament, by which the spouses are united by God after the pattern of the indefectible union of Christ with the Church, and are as it were consecrated and strengthened by sacramental grace.
3. The essential properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility. In the marriage between baptized persons they acquire a special firmness by reason of the sacrament.
From marriage both the spouses have equal rights and obligations as regards what pertains to the partnership of conjugal life.
All persons can enter into marriage who are not prohibited by law.
Marriage enjoys the favour of the law; consequently, in doubt, the validity of a marriage is to upheld until the contrary is proven.
§ 1 Even if only one party is Catholic, the marriage of Catholics is governed not only by divine law but also by canon law, without prejudice to the competence of civil authority concerning the merely civil effects of marriage.
§ 2. The marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic is governed, with due regard for divine law, also by:
1° the law proper to the Church or ecclesial community to which the non-Catholic belongs, if that community has its own matrimonial law;
2° the law to which the non-Catholic is subject, if the ecclesial community to which the person belongs has no matrimonial law of its own.
If sometime the Church has to pronounce a judgement about the validity of a marriage between baptized non-Catholics:
1° as regards the law to which the parties were subject at the time of their wedding, can. 780, §2 is to be observed;
2° as regards the form of marriage celebration, the Church recognizes any form prescribed or admitted by the law to which the parties were subject at the time of their wedding, provided that the consent was expressed in a public form and, if at least one of the parties is a baptized member of an Eastern non-Catholic Church, the marriage was celebrated with sacred rite.
§1. The engagement, which according to the ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches laudably precedes marriage, is governed by the particular law of the respective Church sui iuris.
§ 2. The promise of marriage is no ground for an action to obtain the celebration
of marriage; however, there is action for the reparation of damages, if reparation is due.
ART. I.
PASTORAL CARE AND THOSE THINGS THAT MUST PRECEDE THE CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE
§ 1. Pastors of souls are obliged to see to it that Christ\’s faithful are prepared for the matrimonial state:
1° by preaching and catechesis adapted to youths and adults, by which Christ\’s faithful are instructed concerning the meaning of Christian marriage, the mutual obligations of spouses, and the primary right and obligation of parents to care, according to their abilities, for the physical, religious, moral, social and cultural education of their children;
2° by personal instruction of the couple by which they are prepared for their new state.
§ 2. It is strongly recommended to Catholic couples to receive the Divine Eucharist at the celebration of marriage.
§ 3. After the celebration of marriage pastors of souls should assist the couple so that by faithfully observing and safeguarding their marriage covenant they may day by day achieve a holier and fuller family life.
In the particular law of each Church sui iuris, after consultation with the eparchial bishops of other Churches sui iuris exercising power in the same territory, norms are to be issued concerning the examination of the parties and other means for enquiries which are to be carried out before the marriage, especially those which concern baptism and the freedom to marry, which are to be diligently observed so that the celebration of the marriage can proceed.
§ 1. Pastors of souls are obliged according to the needs of the times and place to prevent with suitable means every danger of an invalid or illicit celebration of marriage, and thus, before the marriage is celebrated, it must be established that nothing stands in the way of its valid and licit celebration.
§ 2. In danger of death, if other means of proof cannot be obtained and there are no contrary indications, the affirmation of the spouses is sufficient, even under oath if the case warrants it, that they have been baptized and that they are not held back by any impediment.
All the Christian faithful are obliged to reveal any impediments they are aware of to the parish priest or the local hierarch before the celebration of the marriage.
The outcome of the investigations is to be notified immediately with an authentic document by the parish priest who has made the investigations to the parish priest who is to bless the marriage.
If after a diligent investigation there persists a doubt concerning the existence of an impediment, the parish priest is to defer the matter to the local hierarch.
Although the marriage can be entered validly with regard to other matters, the priest, beyond the other cases defined by law, without the permission of the local hierarch, is not to bless:
1° the marriage of vagi;
2° a marriage which cannot be recognized or entered into according to the norms of civil law;
3° a marriage of a person who is bound by natural obligations toward a third party or toward children arising from a prior union with that party;
4° a marriage of a minor child of a family whose parents are unaware of or opposed to the marriage;
5° the marriage of one who is forbidden by an ecclesiastical sentence to enter into a new marriage unless the person fulfils certain conditions;
6° a marriage of a person who has publicly rejected the Catholic faith, even if that person did not become a member of a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial communion; the local hierarch in this case will not grant permission unless the norms of can. 814 are observed, making any necessary adaptations.
ART. II.
DIRIMENT IMPEDIMENTS IN GENERAL
§1. A diriment impediment renders a person incapable of celebrating a marriage validly.
§ 2. An impediment, even if only one of the two parties has it, still renders the marriage invalid.
An impediment which can be proven in the external forum is considered to be a public one; otherwise it is an occult one.
Diriment impediments are not to be established by the particular law of a Church sui iuris, unless for a most serious reason, after taking counsel with other eparchial bishops of other Churches sui iuris to whom it is of interest, and after consultation with the Apostolic See; indeed, no lower authority can establish new diriment impediments.
A custom which introduces a new impediment or is contrary to existing impediments is reprobated.
§ 1. In a special case, the local hierarch can prohibit the marriage of the Christian faithful subject to him wherever they are and also of other Christian faithful of his own Church sui iuris actually present within the territorial boundaries of his eparchy, but only for a time, for a serious cause and as long as that cause exists.
§ 2. If the local hierarch is one who exercises his power within the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church, the patriarch can add an invalidating clause to a prohibition; in other cases only the Apostolic See can do so.
§ 1. The local hierarch can dispense the Christian faithful subject to him wherever they are as well as other Christian faithful ascribed in another Church sui iuris actually present within the territorial boundaries of his eparchy from impediments of ecclesiastical law except those following:
1° holy orders;
2° public perpetual vows of chastity in a religious institute, unless it is a case of congregations of eparchial law;
3° conjugicide.
§ 2. Dispensation from these impediments is reserved to the Apostolic See; however, the patriarch can dispense from the impediment of conjugicide as well as of the one of public perpetual vow of chastity made in congregations of any juridical condition.
§ 3. A dispensation is never given from the impediment of consanguinity in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line.
§ 1. In danger of death, the local hierarch can dispense the Christian faithful subject to him wherever they are and other Christian faithful actually present within the territorial boundaries of his eparchy from the form of marriage celebration prescribed by law and from each and every impediment of ecclesiastical law, whether public or occult, except the impediment of the sacred order of priesthood.
§ 2. In the same situation and only for those cases in which the local hierarch cannot be reached, the following have the same power: the parish priest; another priest endowed with the faculty of blessing the marriage and the Catholic priest mentioned in can. 832, § 2; the confessor, if it is a question of an occult impediment for the internal forum, whether within or outside the act of sacramental confession.
§ 3. The local hierarch is not considered to be accessible if he can be contacted only by means other than letter or personal access.
§ 1. If an impediment is discovered after everything is prepared for the celebration of the marriage and the marriage cannot be delayed without probable danger of serious harm until a dispensation is obtained from the competent authority, the power of dispensing from all impediments except those mentioned in can. 795, § 1, nn. 1 and 2 is held by the local hierarch and, provided the case is occult, all persons mentioned in can. 796, § 2, observing all the conditions prescribed in the canon.
§ 2. The faculty is also operative for the convalidation of a marriage if there is the same danger in delay and there is not sufficient time to have recourse to the competent authority.
The priests mentioned in cann. 796, § 2 and 797, § 1 are to inform immediately the local hierarch of a dispensation or convalidation granted for the external forum and it is to be recorded in the marriage register.
Unless there is a contrary determination in a rescript of the Apostolic See or, within the limits of their competency, of the patriarch or of the local hierarch a dispensation from an occult impediment granted in the internal non-sacramental forum is to be recorded in the secret archive of the eparchial curia; no other dispensation for the external forum is necessary, even if the occult impediment should become public later.
ART. III.
IMPEDIMENTS SPECIFICALLY
§ 1. A man before he has completed his sixteenth year of age and a woman before she has completed her fourteenth year of age, cannot validly celebrate a marriage.
§ 2. It is within the power of the particular law of any Church sui iuris to establish an older age for the licit celebration of marriage.
§ 1. By its very nature, marriage is invalidated by antecedent and perpetual impotence to have sexual intercourse, whether on the part of the man or on that of the woman, whether absolute or relative.
§ 2. If the impediment of impotence is doubtful, either by reason of doubt of law or of a doubt of fact, the marriage is nether to be impeded nor is it to be declared null as long as the doubt exists.
§ 3. Sterility neither prohibits nor invalidates marriage, with due regard for can. 821.
§ 1. A person who is held to a bond of a prior marriage invalidly attempts marriage.
§ 2. Even if the first marriage is invalid or dissolved for any reason, it is not licit to celebrate another marriage before the invalidity or dissolution of the first is lawfully and certainly established
§ 1. Marriage with a non-baptized person cannot validly be celebrated.
§ 2. If at the time of the celebration of the marriage the party was commonly held to be baptized or his or her baptism was doubtful, the validity of the marriage is to be presumed, according to the norm of can. 779, until it is proven with certainty that one party was baptized and the other was not.
§ 3. Concerning the conditions for dispensing, can. 814 is to be applied.
Persons who are in holy orders invalidly attempt marriage.
Persons who are bound by a public perpetual vow of chastity in a religious institute invalidly attempt marriage.
No marriage can be celebrated validly with a person who has been abducted, or at least detained, with a view to marriage, unless such a person has first been separated from the person responsible for the abduction or detention and has been set in a safe and free place, and then freely chooses marriage.
§ 1. A person who, with the intention of celebrating marriage with a certain person, brings about the death of that person\’s spouse or one\’s own spouse, invalidly attempts his marriage.
§ 2. They also invalidly attempt marriage between themselves who have brought about the death of a spouse through mutual physical or moral co-operation.
§ 1. In the direct line of consanguinity marriage is invalid between all ancestors and descendants.
§ 2. In a collateral line of consanguinity, marriage is invalid up to fourth degree inclusive.
§ 3. Marriage is never to be permitted if there is a doubt whether the parties are related by consanguinity in any degree of the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line.
§ 4. The impediment of consanguinity is not multiplied.
§ 1. Affinity invalidates a marriage in the direct line in any degree whatsoever; in the collateral line, in the second degree.
§ 2. The impediment of affinity is not multiplied.
§ 1. The impediment of public propriety arises:
1° from an invalid marriage after which the couple have lived together;
2° from notorious or public concubinage;
3° from the living together of a couple who are bound to the form of marriage celebration prescribed by law but have attempted marriage before a civil official or a non-Catholic minister.
§ 2. This impediment invalidates marriage in the first degree of the direct line between a man and the blood relatives of the woman and between a woman and the blood relatives of the man.
§ 1. From baptism there arises a spiritual relationship between a sponsor and the baptized person and the parents of the same that invalidates marriage.
§ 2. If a baptism is repeated under condition, a spiritual relationship does not arise, unless the same sponsor was employed for the second ceremony.
Those who are legally related by reason of adoption cannot validly marry each other if their relationship is in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line.
ART. IV.
MIXED MARRIAGES
Marriage between two baptized persons, one of whom is Catholic and the other of whom is non-Catholic, is prohibited without the prior permission of the competent authority.
For a just reason the local hierarch can grant permission; however he is not to grant it unless the following conditions are fulfilled:
1° the Catholic party declares that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of falling away from the faith and makes a sincere promise to do all in his or her power to have all the children baptized and educated in the Catholic Church;
2° the other party is to be informed in good time of these promises which the Catholic party has to make, so that it is clear that the other party is truly aware of the promise and obligation of the Catholic party;
3° both parties are to be instructed on the essential ends and properties of marriage, which are not to be excluded by either spouse.
The particular law of each Church sui iuris is to specify the manner in which these declarations and promises, which are always required, are to be made, and to determine how they can be established in the external forum and how the non-Catholic party is to be informed of them.
Local hierarchs and other pastors of souls are to see to it that the Catholic spouse and the children born of a mixed marriage are not without the spiritual help needed to fulfill their obligations of conscience; they are also to assist the spouses to foster the unity of partnership in their conjugal and family life.
ART. V.
MATRIMONIAL CONSENT
§ 1. Matrimonial consent is an act of the will by which a man and a woman, through an irrevocable covenant, mutually give and accept each other in order to establish marriage.
§ 2. No human power can replace this matrimonial consent.
The following are incapable of celebrating marriage:
1° who lack the sufficient use of reason;
2° who suffer from grave lack of discretion of judgement concerning essential matrimonial rights and duties which are to be mutually given and accepted;
3° who are not capable of assuming the essential obligations of matrimony due to causes of a psychic nature.
For matrimonial consent to be had it is necessary that the couple be at least not ignorant of the fact that marriage is a permanent partnership between a man and a woman, ordered to the procreation of children through some sexual co-operation.
§ 1. Error about a person renders a marriage invalid.
§ 2. Error about the quality of a person, even if it occasions the marriage, does not render the marriage invalid, unless this quality was directly and principally intended.
A person who celebrates marriage beguiled by trickery, perpetrated to secure consent, concerning some quality of the other party which of its very nature can seriously disturb the partnership of conjugal life, celebrates it invalidly.
Error concerning the unity, indissolubility or sacramental dignity of matrimony does not vitiate matrimonial consent so long as it does not determine the will.
The knowledge or opinion of the nullity of a marriage does not necessarily exclude matrimonial consent.
§ 1. The internal consent of the mind is presumed to conform to the words or signs used in the celebration of the marriage.
§ 2. But if either or both parties through a positive act of the will should exclude marriage itself, or any essential element of marriage or an essential property, the marriage is invalidly celebrated.
A marriage is invalid which is celebrated by reason of force or grave fear brought to bear from without, even if not purposely, from which the person has no other escape but the coercive choice of marriage.
Marriage based on a condition cannot be validly celebrated.
Even if a marriage was celebrated invalidly by reason of an impediment or defect of form prescribed by law for celebrating marriage, the consent once given is presumed to persist until it is established that it has been revoked.
ART. VI.
THE FORM FAR THE CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE
§ 1. Only those marriages are valid which are celebrated with a sacred rite, in the presence of the local hierarch, local parish priest, or a priest who has been given the faculty of blessing the marriage by either of them, and at least two witnesses, according, however to the prescriptions of the following canons, with due regard for the exceptions mentioned in cann. 832 and 834, § 2.
§ 2. The very intervention of a priest who assists and blesses is regarded as a sacred rite for the present purpose.
§ 1. From the day of taking canonical possession of office and as long as they legitimately hold office, everywhere within the boundaries of their territory, local hierarchs and local parish priests validly bless the marriage of parties whether they are subjects or non-subjects, provided that at least one of the parties is enrolled in his Church sui iuris.
§ 2. The personal hierarch and the personal parish priest, by virtue of their office, validly bless marriages within the limits of their ambit only of those of whom at least one party is their subject.
§ 3. Ipso iure, the patriarch is endowed with the faculty to personally bless marriages anywhere in the world, as long as at least one of the parties is ascribed in the Church over which he presides, observing the other requirements of law.
§ 1. As long as they legitimately hold office, the local hierarch and the local parish priest can give the faculty to bless a determined marriage within their own territorial boundaries to priests of any Church sui iuris, even the Latin Church.
§ 2. However, only the local hierarch can give a general faculty for blessing marriages with due regard for can. 302, § 2.
§ 3. In order that the conferral of faculty for blessing a marriage be valid, it must be expressly given to specified priests; further, if the faculty is general, it must be given in writing.
§ 1. The local hierarch or local parish priest licitly blesses a marriage:
1° after he has verified the domicile, quasi- domicile, or month-long residence, or, if it is a case of a transient, actual residence of either party in the place of the marriage;
2° if, when these conditions are lacking, he has the permission of the hierarch or of the parish priest of the domicile or quasi-domicile of either of the parties, unless a just cause excuses;
3° also, a place exclusively of another Church sui iuris, unless the hierarch who exercises power in that place expressly refuses.
§ 2. The marriage is to be celebrated before the parish priest of the groom, unless either particular law determines otherwise or a just cause excuses.
§ 1. If the priest who is competent according to the norm of law cannot be present or be approached without grave inconvenience, those who intend to celebrate a true marriage can validly and licitly celebrate it in the presence of witnesses only:
1° in danger of death;
2° apart from the danger of death, provided it is prudently foreseen that this state of affairs will continue for a month.
§ 2. In either case, if another priest is at hand, he is to be called upon, if it is possible, to bless the marriage, without prejudice to the validity of the marriage celebrated in the presence of only the witnesses; in such cases even a non-Catholic priest may be called.
§ 3. If the marriage was celebrated in the presence only of witnesses, the spouses shall not neglect to receive the nuptial blessing from a priest as early as possible.
§ 1. The local hierarch can give to any Catholic priest the faculty of blessing the marriages of the Christian faithful of an Eastern non-Catholic Church if those faithful cannot approach a priest of their own Church without great difficulty, and if they spontaneously ask for the blessing as long as nothing stands in the way of a valid and licit celebration.
§ 2. If possible, before blessing the marriage, the Catholic priest is to report the matter to the competent authority of those Christian faithful.
§ 1. The form for the celebration of marriage prescribed by law is to be observed if at least one of the parties celebrating the marriage was baptized in the Catholic Church or was received into it.
§ 2. If, however, a Catholic party ascribed in some Eastern Church celebrates a marriage with one who belongs to an Eastern non-Catholic Church, the form for the celebration of marriage prescribed by law is to be observed only for liceity; for validity, however, the blessing of a priest is required, while observing the other requirements of law.
Dispensation from the form for the celebration of marriage required by law is reserved to the Apostolic See or the patriarch, who will not grant it except for a very grave reason.
Apart from a case of necessity, in the celebration of marriage the prescriptions of the liturgical books and the lawful customs are to be observed.
§ 1. For the valid celebration of marriage, it is necessary for the parties to be present together and express mutually their marriage consent.
§ 2. Marriage cannot be validly celebrated by proxy unless the particular law of one\’s own Church sui iuris establishes otherwise, in which case it must provide the conditions under which such a marriage may be celebrated.
§ 1. Marriage is to be celebrated in a parish church, or with the permission of the local hierarch or the local parish priest, in another sacred place; however, it cannot be celebrated in other places without the permission of the local hierarch.
§ 2. Concerning the time of the celebration of marriage, the norms established by the particular law of the respective Church sui iuris are to be observed.
Before or after the canonical celebration of marriage, it is forbidden to have another religious celebration of the same marriage to furnish or renew consent; likewise, a religious celebration is forbidden in which both the Catholic priest and non-Catholic minister ask for the consent of the parties.
§ 1. Permission for a secret marriage can be granted by the local hierarch for a serious and urgent reason and also includes the grave obligation of observing secrecy on the part of the local hierarch, the parish priest, the priest who was granted the faculty of blessing the marriage, witnesses, and the one spouse if the other does not consent to revealing it.
§ 2. The obligation of observing secrecy ceases on the part of the local hierarch if serious scandal or serious harm to the sanctity of marriage is threatened by the observance of secrecy.
§ 3. A marriage which is secretly celebrated is to be recorded only in the special register which is to be kept in the secret archive of the eparchial curia unless a most grave reason prevents it.
§ 1. As soon as possible after the celebration of the marriage, the parish priest of the place where it was celebrated or the one who acts in his place, even if neither blessed the marriage, is to record in the marriage register the names of the couple, of the priest who blessed the marriage, of the witnesses, the place and date of the celebration of the marriage and, as the case may be, dispensation from form or from impediments along with who granted it and what the impediment was and its degree, the faculty granted to bless the marriage, and other details in the manner prescribed by the respective eparchial bishop.
§ 2. Furthermore, the local parish priest is to record in the baptismal register that the spouse celebrated marriage in his parish on such and such a day. If the spouse was baptized elsewhere, he local parish priest is to send the marriage statement himself or through the eparchial curia to the parish priest of the place where the spouse\’s baptism was recorded. He is not to be satisfied till he is notified about the marriage entry in the baptismal register.
§ 3. If the marriage was celebrated according to the norm of can. 832, the priest, if he blessed it, or the witnesses and the spouses, must see to it that the celebration of the marriage is entered in the prescribed books as soon as possible.
If a marriage is convalidated for the external forum, or is declared null or is lawfully dissolved other than by death, the parish priest of the place of the marriage celebration must be informed, so that an entry may be made in the marriage and baptismal registers.
ART. VII.
CONVALIDATION OF MARRIAGE
1° SIMPLE CONVALIDATION
§ 1. To convalidate a marriage which is invalid due to a diriment impediment, it is required that the impediment cease or that it be dispensed and that at least the party who is aware of the impediment renew consent.
§ 2. This renewal of consent is required for validity of the convalidation even if both parties furnished consent at the beginning and have not revoked it later.
The renewal of consent must be a new act of the will concerning a marriage which the person who is renewing consent knows or thinks was null from the beginning.
§ 1. If the impediment is a public one, the consent is to be renewed by both parties according to the form for the celebration of marriage required by law.
§ 2. If the impediment is occult, it is sufficient that the consent be renewed privately and in secret by the party who is aware of the impediment, provided the other party perseveres in the consent already given, or by both parties when each of them knows about the impediment.
§ 1. A marriage which is invalid due to a defect of consent is convalidated when the party who has not consented now gives consent, provided the consent given by the other party still exists.
§ 2. If the defect of consent cannot be proven it is sufficient that the party who did not consent gives consent privately and in secret.
§ 3. If the defect of consent can be proven it is necessary that the consent be given according to the form for the celebration of marriage required by law.
If a marriage which is invalid because of a defect of form of marriage celebration prescribed by law, is to become valid, it must be celebrated anew in this form.
2° RADICAL SANATION
§ 1. The radical sanation of an invalid marriage is its convalidation without the renewal of consent, granted by competent authority and including a dispensation from an impediment, if there was one, and from the form for the celebration of marriage required by law, if it was not observed, and the retroactivity in to the past of canonical effects.
§ 2. The convalidation occurs at the moment the favour is granted; it is understood to be retroactive, however, to the moment the marriage was celebrated unless something else is expressly stated.
§ 1. A radical sanation of the marriage can be granted validly even when one or both of the parties are unaware of it.
§ 2. A radical sanation is not to be granted except for a grave reason and unless it is probable that the parties intend to persevere in the partnership of conjugal life.
§ 1. An invalid marriage can be sanated provided the consent of each party continues to exist.
§ 2. A marriage which is invalid due to an impediment of divine law cannot be sanated validly until after the impediment has ceased to exist.
§ 1. A marriage cannot be radically sanated if consent is lacking in either or both the parties, whether the consent was lacking from the beginning or was given in the beginning but afterwards revoked.
§ 2. If, however, consent was indeed lacking in the beginning but afterwards was given, a sanation can be granted from the moment the consent was given.
A patriarch and an eparchial bishop can grant a radical sanation in individual cases, if the validity of the marriage is hindered by a defect of form of marriage celebration as prescribed by law or by some impediment from which they can dispense; also in cases prescribed by law, if the conditions mentioned in can. 814 are fulfilled. In other cases, and if it is a question of impediments of divine law which have now ceased, a radical sanation can be granted only by the Apostolic See.
ART. VIII.
THE SEPARATION OF THE SPOUSES
1° DISSOLUTION OF THE BOND
The sacramental bond of marriage, once the marriage has been consummated, cannot be dissolved by any human power or by any cause other than death.
§ 1. In virtue of the pauline privilege, a marriage entered into by two unbaptized persons is dissolved ipso iure in favour of the faith of the party who received baptism, if a new marriage is celebrated by the latter, provided the unbaptized party departs.
§ 2. The unbaptized party is considered to depart, if he or she is unwilling to live together peacefully with the baptized party without offence to the Creator, unless the baptized party has, after the reception of baptism, given the other party just cause for departure.
§ 1. In order for the baptized party to celebrate new marriage validly, the non-baptized party must be interpellated as to whether:
1° he or she wants to receive baptism;
2° he or she at least wishes to live together peacefully with the baptized party without offence to the Creator;
§ 2. This interpellation must be conducted after baptism, but the local hierarch for a serious reason can permit the interpellation to be conducted before the baptism, or even to dispense with the interpellation either before or after the baptism, if by means of at least a summary and extra-judicial process it is established that it cannot be done or that it would be useless.
§ 1. Ordinarily the interpellation is made by the authority of the local hierarch of the converted party; if the other party requests time for responding, the same hierarch is to grant it with the warning that after the period elapsed without any answer, the person\’s silence is considered to be a negative response.
§ 2. An interpellation can also be done privately by the converted party and is indeed licit, if the form prescribed above cannot be observed.
§ 3. In either case, there must be lawful proof in the external forum of the interpellation having been done and of its outcome.
The baptized party has the right of celebrating a new marriage with a Catholic party if:
1° the other party responds negatively to the interpellation;
2° the interpellation is legitimately omitted;
3° the non-baptized party, either already interpellated or not, at first persevering in peaceful cohabitation but later departed without just cause, in which case, however, an interpellation is to be done according to the norms of cann. 855 and 856.
The baptized party who uses the pauline privilege may be permitted by the local hierarch for a serious reason to celebrate marriage with a non-Catholic party, whether baptized or unbaptized; in this case the prescriptions of the canons on mixed marriages also must be observed.
§ 1. If an unbaptized man having simultaneously several unbaptized wives receives baptism in the Catholic Church, and if it is difficult for him to remain with the first of them, he can keep any one of the rest and dismiss all others. The same applies to an unbaptized woman who has simultaneously several unbaptized husbands.
§ 2. In this case the marriage is to be celebrated according to the form prescribed by law while observing the other requirements of law.
§ 3. After considering the moral, social and economic conditions of the place and of the persons, the local hierarch is to take care that sufficient provision is made in accordance with the norms of justice, charity, and equity for the needs of those who are dismissed.
A non-baptized person who, having received baptism in the catholic Church, cannot restore cohabitation with a non-baptized spouse due to captivity or persecution, can licitly celebrate another marriage, even if the other party has received baptism in the meantime, with due regard for can. 853
In a doubtful matter the privilege of the faith enjoys the favour of the law.
A non-consummated marriage can be dissolved by the Roman Pontiff for a just reason, at the request of both the parties or of either party, even if the other is unwilling.
2° SEPARATION WHILE THE BOND ENDURES
§ 1. It is earnestly recommended to spouses that, motivated by charity and solicitous for the good of the family, they should not refuse to pardon an adulterous partner and should not break off the partnership of conjugal life; however, if a spouse has not expressly or tacitly condoned the other\’s fault, he or she has the right to sever the partnership of conjugal life, provided he or she has not consented to the adultery, nor has given cause to it, nor also committed adultery.
§ 2. Tacit condonation occurs if the innocent spouse, after becoming aware of the adultery, has willingly engaged in a relationship of marital affection with the other spouse. Tacit condonation is presumed, however, if the innocent spouse has maintained the partnership of conjugal life for six months without taking the matter to the ecclesiastical or the civil authority.
§ 3. The innocent spouse who on his own or her own accord has severed the partnership of conjugal life must within six months file a suit for separation before the competent ecclesiastical authority. After having examined all the circumstances, the said authority is to consider whether the innocent spouse can be brought to condone the fault and not prolong the separation permanently.
§ 1. The spouse who has rendered common life dangerous or unduly hard for the other spouse or to the children provides the other spouse with a lawful reason to leave either by a decree of the local hierarch or, if there is danger in delay, even on his or her own authority.
§ 2. The particular law of the Churches sui iuris can determine other reasons in keeping with the ethos of the people and circumstances of the place.
§ 3. In all cases once the reason for the separation has ceased, the partnership of conjugal life is to be restored, unless it has been provided otherwise by the competent authority.
When a separation of spouses is effected, provision is always to be made, and in good time, for the due maintenance and education of the children.
The innocent spouse may laudably readmit the other spouse to the partnership of conjugal life, in which case he or she renounces the right to separation.
CHAPTER VIII.
SACRAMENTALS, SACRED TIMES AND PLACES, VENERATION OF THE SAINTS, A VOW AND AN OATH
ART. I.
SACRAMENTALS
§ 1. Sacramentals are sacred signs which in a way imitate the sacraments and signify effects, especially spiritual ones, which are obtained through the impetration of the Church. Through the sacramentals people are disposed to receive the principal effect of the sacraments and the various circumstances of their life are sanctified.
§ 2. In the matter of the sacramentals the norms of the particular law of the respective Church sui iuris are to be observed.
ART. II.
SACRED PLACES
Sacred places, which are destined for divine worship, cannot be erected without the permission of the eparchial bishop, unless it is expressly established otherwise by common law.
1° CHURCHES
A church is a building exclusively dedicated for divine worship by consecration or blessing.
No building destined to be a church is to be built without the express consent of the eparchial bishop given in writing, unless something else is expressly established by common law.
§ 1. Cathedral churches and, if possible, parish churches, churches of monasteries and churches attached to religious houses, should be dedicated through consecration.
§ 2. Consecration is reserved to the eparchial bishop, who can grant the faculty of consecrating to another bishop; after the consecration or blessing has been performed, a document is to be drawn up for preservation in the archive of the eparchial curia.
§ 1. Anything which is out of tune with the sanctity of the place is to be kept off from churches.
§ 2. All whose concern it is are to care that such cleanliness is maintained in a church as befits the house of God, and that security means are taken to protect the sacred and precious objects.
§ 1. If a church cannot at all be used any longer for divine worship and there is no possibility of restoring it, it can be reduced by the eparchial bishop to profane use, but not a sordid one.
§ 2. If other grave reasons suggest that a certain church is no longer to be used for divine worship, the eparchial bishop can reduce it to profane but not sordid use, provided that the good of souls suffers no harm thereby. Before doing so he must consult the presbyteral council and have the consent of those who legitimately claim rights over the church.
2° CEMETERIES AND ECCLESIASTICAL FUNERALS
§ 1. The Catholic Church has the right to own its own cemeteries.
§ 2. Where possible, the Church is to have its own cemeteries, or at least an area in public cemeteries reserved for the deceased Christian faithful; the one and the other is to be blessed. If these arrangements cannot be done, on the occasion of the funeral the grave is to be blessed.
§ 3. The dead are not to be buried in churches except in the case of one who was a patriarch, bishop or exarch. The contrary custom is reprobated.
§ 4. Parishes, monasteries and other religious institutes can have their own cemeteries.
All Christ\’s faithful and catechumens who have died are to be given a Church funeral, unless they have been deprived of it by law. In the funeral the Church prays for spiritual assistance for the dead, honours their bodies, and at the same time brings the solace of hope to the living.
§ 1. Provided their own minister is not available, baptized non-Catholics
can be accorded ecclesiastical funeral according to the prudent judgement of the local hierarch, unless there is proof about their contrary wish.
§ 2. Children, whose parents had intended to baptize them, and others who had seemed to be in some way close to the Church, but who died before they received baptism, can be given Church funeral according to the prudent judgement of the local hierarch.
§ 3. Those who had opted for the cremation of their body are to be granted Church funeral, unless there is proof that their choice was motivated by reasons opposed to Christian life; but the funeral celebration is to make it clear that the Church prefers burial of bodies to cremation and that scandal is avoided.
Unless before death they had given some signs of repentance, sinners who cannot be granted Church funeral without public scandal to Christ\’s faithful, are to be deprived of it.
§ 1. In the celebration of Church funeral all favouritism is to be avoided.
§ 2. Without prejudice to can. 1013, it is earnestly recommended to eparchial bishops to introduce, as far as possible, the practice by which on the occasion of Church funerals only those offerings are accepted which Christ\’s faithful offer on their own.
After the burial an entry is to be made in the register of the dead, according to the norm of particular law.
ART. III.
FEAST DAYS AND DAYS OF PENANCE
§ 1. Only the supreme authority of the Church can establish, transfer or suppress feast days and days of penance which are common to all of the Eastern Churches, with due regard for § 3.
§ 2. The competence to constitute, transfer or suppress holydays and days of penance for individual Churches sui iuris belongs also to their respective authority which is competent to establish particular law. It may do so, however, only after taking into account the other Churches sui iuris and without prejudice to can. 40, §1.
§ 3. Holydays of obligation common to all the Eastern Churches, besides Sundays, are the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Dormition of Holy Mary the Mother of God and the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, without prejudice to the particular law of a Church sui iuris approved by the Apostolic See by which certain holydays of obligation are suppressed or transferred to a Sunday.
§ 1. The Christian faithful are bound by the obligation toparticipate on Sundays and feast days in the Divine liturgy, or according to the prescriptions or legitimate customs of their own Church sui iuris, in the celebration of the Liturgy of the hours.
§ 2. In order for the Christian faithful to fulfill this obligation more easily, the usable time runs from the evening of the vigil until the end of the Sunday or feast day.
§ 3. The Christian faithful are strongly recommended to receive the Divine Eucharist on these days and indeed more frequently, even daily.
§ 4. The Christian faithful should abstain from those labours or business matters which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord\’s day, or to the proper relaxation of mind and body.
On the days of penance the Christian faithful are obliged to observe fast or abstinence in the manner established by the particular law of their Church sui iuris.
§ 1. As regards holydays and days of penance Christ\’s faithful who are outside the territorial boundaries of their own Church sui iuris can adapt themselves fully to the norms in force where they are staying.
§ 2. In families in which the spouses are ascribed to different Churches sui iuris, it is permitted to observe the norms of one or the other Church sui iuris in the matter of holydays and days of penance.
ART. IV.
VENERATION OF THE SAINTS,
OF SACRED IMAGES AND RELICS
To foster the sanctification of the People of God the Church recommends to the special and filial veneration of the Christian faithful Holy Mary ever Virgin, the Mother of God, whom Christ made Mother of all. The Church also promotes the true and authentic cult of the other saints, by whose example the Christian faithful are edified and through whose intercession they are sustained.
Only those servants of God may licitly be venerated by public cult who have been numbered among the Saints or the Blessed by the Church authority.
The practice of exposing sacred icons or images in churches for the veneration of the Christian faithful is to continue in the manner and order to be determined by the particular law of the respective Church sui iuris.
§ 1. Sacred icons or precious images, that is, those which are outstanding due to antiquity or art, which are exposed in churches for the veneration of the Christian faithful, cannot be transferred to another church or alienated without the written consent given by the hierarch who exercises authority over that same church, with due regard for cann. 1034 – 1041.
§ 2. Sacred icons or precious images are also not to be restored without the written consent given by the same hierarch, who before grants it is to consult experts.
§ 1. It is not permitted to sell sacred relics.
§ 2. Well-known relics, icons or images that are held in great veneration by the people in some church cannot in any manner be validly alienated nor perpetually transferred to another church without the consent of the Apostolic See or of the patriarch, who can give it only with the consent of the permanent synod, without prejudice to can. 1037.
§ 3. Concerning the restoration of these icons or images, can. 887, § 2 is to be observed.
ART. V.
A VOW AND AN OATH
§ 1. A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning some good that is possible and better. The virtue of religion requires that it be fulfilled.
§ 2. All who have an appropriate use of reason are capable of making a vow, unless they are prohibited by law.
§ 3. A vow made as a result of grave and unjust fear or trickery is null ipso iure.
§ 4. A vow is public if it is accepted in the name of the Church by a lawful ecclesiastical superior; otherwise, it is private.
By its nature a vow obliges no one except the one who made it.
A vow ceases when the time appointed for the fulfilment of the obligation has passed, when there is a substantial change in the matter promised or when the condition on which the vow depends or the purpose for which it was made no longer exists; it also ceases through dispensation or commutation.
One who has power over the matter of a vow can suspend the obligation of the vow for as long as its fulfilment would affect one adversely.
§ 1. The following persons can dispense from a private vow for a just reason provided the dispensation does not injure the acquired right of others:
1° in respect of his subjects: any hierarch, parish priest, and the local superior of an institute of consecrated life who has the power of governance;
2° in respect of the other Christian faithful of his own Church sui iuris: the local hierarch, provided they actually reside within the territorial boundaries of his eparchy, and also a local parish priest within the territorial boundaries of his own parish;
3° in respect of those who reside day and night in a house of an institute of consecrated life: the local superior who has the power of governance, and his major superior.
Vows made before monastic or religious profession are suspended while the person who makes the vow remains in the monastery, order or congregation.
An oath is the invocation of the divine Name as witness to the truth. It can be made before the Church only in cases determined by law; otherwise it produces no canonical effect.
TITLE XVII.
BAPTIZED NON-CATHOLICS COMING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE
No burden is to be imposed beyond what is necessary on those who have been baptized in non-Catholic Churches or ecclesial communities and who ask of their own accord to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, whether as individuals or as groups.
The Christian faithful of an Eastern non-Catholic Church is to be received into the Catholic Church with only the profession of the Catholic faith, after a doctrinal and spiritual preparation that is suited to each one\’s condition.
§ 1. Besides the Roman Pontiff, the patriarch with the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, or the metropolitan of a metropolitan Church sui iuris with the consent of the council of hierarchs, can receive a bishop of an Eastern non-Catholic Church into the Catholic Church.
§ 2. The right of receiving anyone else into the Catholic Church pertains to the hierarch of the place, or if the particular law provides for it, also to the patriarch.
§ 3. The right of receiving individual lay persons into the Catholic Church belongs also to the parish priest, unless this is forbidden by particular law.
A cleric of an Eastern non-Catholic Church entering into full communion with the Catholic Church can exercise his sacred order according to the norms established by the competent authority; a bishop, however, cannot validly exercise the power of governance except with the assent of the Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops.
§ 1. A person who has not yet completed his or her fourteenth year is not to be received, if the parents are opposed to it.
§ 2. If from receiving such a person grave inconveniences are foreseen either to the Church or to the person, the reception is to be put off, unless there is imminent danger of death.
If non-Catholics, who do not belong to an Eastern Church, are received into the Catholic Church, the norms given above are to be observed with the necessary adaptations, provided they have been validly baptized.
TITLE XVIII.
ECUMENISM OR FOSTERING THE UNITY OF CHRISTIANS
Since the restoration of the unity of all Christians is the solicitude of the entire Church, all Christ\’s faithful, especially pastors of the Church, should pray and work for that fullness of unity desired by the Lord, resourcefully taking part in the ecumenical action set in motion by the grace of the Holy Sprit.
The Eastern Catholic Churches have a special function of fosteringunity among all Eastern Churches, first of all through prayers, by the example of life, by conscientious fidelity to the ancient traditions of the Eastern Churches, by better knowledge of each other, by working together, and by brotherly respect for the feelings of others and their history.
§ 1. Ecumenical initiatives are to be promoted in every Church sui iuris through special norms of particular law, while the Roman Apostolic See functions as the moderator of the movement for the universal Church.
§ 2. For this purpose, there should be in each Church sui iuris a commission of experts on ecumenism, which is to be set up, if circumstances suggest so, in consultation with the patriarchs and eparchial bishops of other Churches sui iuris who exercise their power in the same territory.
§ 3. A council for the promotion of ecumenical movement is to be available to the eparchial bishops either for each of the eparchies or, if it seems preferable, for several eparchies together. In eparchies which cannot have a council of their own, there is to be at least one of the Christian faithful nominated by the eparchial bishop with the special function of promoting this movement.
In actual ecumenical work done especially through sincere and frank dialogue and with initiatives undertaken together with other Christians, due prudence must be observed, avoiding the dangers of false irenicism, indifferentism as well as immoderate zeal.
In order that Christ\’s faithful may acquire a clearer knowledge of what is truly taught and handed down by the Catholic Church and by the other Churches or ecclesial communities, particular attention is to be paid especially by preachers of the word, by those in charge of the media of social communication, and by all who are engaged as teachers or as directors in Catholic schools and especially in institutes of higher studies.
Directors of schools, hospitals and other similar Catholic institutions are to see to it that other Christians who attend these institutions or stay there have the facilities to get spiritual aid and receive the sacraments from their own ministers.
It is desirable that the Catholic faithful, while observing thenorms on communicatio in sacris, do not undertake all by themselves any project whatever in which they can co-operate with other Christians, but that they do it together: such are charitable works and works of social justice, the defence of the dignity and the fundamental rights of the human person, promotion of peace, days of commemoration for one\’s fatherland, national holidays.
TITLE XIX.
PERSONS AND JURIDIC ACTS
CHAPTER
PERSONS
ART. I.
PHYSICAL PERSONS
§1. A person who has completed the eighteenth year of age, has attained majority; below this age, a person is a minor.
§ 2. A minor who has not completed the seventh year of age is called an infant and is considered incapable of personal responsibility; on completion of the seventh year, the minor is presumed to have the use of reason.
§ 3. Whoever habitually lacks the use of reason is considered as incapable of personal responsibility and is regarded as an infant.
§1. A person who has attained majority has the full exercise of his or her rights.
§ 2. In the exercise of rights a minor is subject to parents or guardians, except for those matters in which by divine or canon law minors are exempt from their power. In regard to the appointment of guardians, the prescriptions of civil law are to be observed, unless it is otherwise provided in common law or in the particular law of the Church sui iuris, and without prejudice to the right of the eparchial bishop to designate guardians by himself, if necessary.
A person is said to be a peregrine in an eparchy different from the one where he or she has a domicile or quasi-domicile; a vagus if he or she has nowhere a domicile or quasi-domicile.
§ 1. Domicile is acquired by residence in the territory of a parish or at least of an eparchy, which is either linked to the intention of remaining there permanently unless one has to move for some reason, or in fact protracted for a full period of five years.
§ 2. Quasi-domicile is acquired by residence in the territory of a parish or at least of an eparchy, which is either linked to the intention of remaining there at least for three months unless one has to move for some reason, or in fact protracted for three months.
Members of religious institutes and societies of common life in the manner of religious acquire a domicile in the place where the house to which they are ascribed is situated. They acquire a quasi-domicile in the place where their stay has been protracted at least for three months.
The domicile or quasi-domicile of spouses is to be common. However, for a just reason each can have his or her own domicile or quasi-domicile.
§ 1. A minor necessarily keeps the domicile or quasi-domicile of the one to whose power he or she is subject. A minor who is no longer an infant can also acquire a quasi-domicile of his or her own, and if legally emancipated according to the norm of civil law, a domicile also.
§ 2. Whoever for a reason other than minority has been lawfully placed under the guardianship or tutelage of another, has the domicile or quasi-domicile of the guardian or curator.
§ 1. Through both domicile and quasi-domicile everyone acquires his or her local hierarch and parish priest of the Church sui iuris to which he or she is ascribed, unless it is provided otherwise in common law.
§ 2. The proper parish priest of one who has only an eparchial domicile or quasi-domicile is the parish priest of the place where that person is actually staying.
§ 3. The proper local hierarch and parish priest of a vagus is the parish priest and local hierarch belonging to his or her Church where he or she is actually residing.
§ 4. If there is no parish priest for the Christian faithful of some Church sui iuris, their eparchial bishop is to designate the parish priest of another Church sui iuris to have care of them as their proper parish priest, but with the consent of the eparchial bishop of the parish priest who is to be designated.
§ 5. In places where not even an exarchy has been erected for the Christian faithful of some Church sui iuris, the local hierarch of another Church sui iuris, even of the Latin Church, is to be considered the proper hierarch of these faithful, without prejudice to can. 101. If, however, there are several local hierarchs, that one is to be considered their proper hierarch who has been designated by the Apostolic See or, in case of the Christian faithful of a patriarchal Church, by the patriarch with the assent of the Apostolic See.
Domicile and quasi-domicile are lost by departure from the place with the intention of not returning, with due regard for the prescriptions of cann. 913 and 915.
Consanguinity is calculated through lines and degrees:
1° in the direct line, there are as many degrees as there are persons in both lines together, not counting the common ancestor.
2° in the collateral line, there are as many degrees as there are persons in both lines together, not counting the common ancestor.
§ 1. Affinity arises from a valid marriage and exists between one spouse and the blood relatives of the other.
§ 2. A blood relative of either one of the spouses is related by affinity to other spouse by the same line and in the same degree.
ART. II.
JURIDIC PERSONS
Besides physical persons, there are also in the Church juridical persons, either aggregates of persons or aggregates of things, that are in canon law subjects to the rights and obligations which correspond to their nature.
§ 1. Juridical persons are constituted for a purpose in keeping with the Church\’s mission either by actual prescription of the law or by a special concession of the competent authority granted by decree.
§ 2. By the law itself Churches sui iuris, provinces, eparchies, exarchies as well as other institutes expressly established as such in common law are juridical persons.
§ 3. The competent authority is not to confer juridical personality except upon those aggregates of persons or things which pursue a specific objective which is truly useful and, all things considered, have resources which are foreseen to be sufficient to achieve the objective.
§ 1. Every juridical person, erected by a special concession of the competent ecclesiastical authority, must have its own statutes, approved by the authority that is competent to erect it as a juridical person.
§ 2. Without prejudice to common law, the statutes can only be approved if they contain more specific provisions about the following:
1° the specific objective of the juridical person;
2° the nature of the juridical person;
3° who is competent for the management of the juridical person and how this management is to be carried out;
4° who represents the juridical person in the civil and in the ecclesiastical forum;
5° who is competent to dispose of the property of the juridical person and who is the executor in case of the extinction of the juridical person, of its division into several juridical persons, of its merger with other juridical persons, always without prejudice to the wishes of the donors and to acquired rights.
§ 3. A juridical person cannot validly transact business before its statutes are approved.
An aggregate of persons cannot be erected as a juridical person unless it is made up of at least three physical persons.
With regard to collegial acts, unless law has expressly provided otherwise:
1° if the majority of those who must be summoned are present, what is decided by an absolute majority of those who are present has the force of law. If the votes were equal, the person presiding is to break the tie with a casting vote;
2° however, if acquired rights of individuals are affected, the consent of each one of them is required;
3° concerning elections, can. 956 is to be observed.
If even a single member of a juridical person survives, but it has nevertheless not ceased to exist according to its statutes, the exercise of all the rights of the juridical person devolves upon that member.
§ 1. Unless other provisions have been made in law, the goods and the rights of a juridical person which does not have any members left, must be safeguarded, administered or exercised through the care of the authority that, in the case of its extinction, is responsible for these things; this authority has the duty in accordance with the law to faithfully meet the liabilities of the goods and also to take care to see that the will of the founders or donors is meticulously observed.
2. While observing the norms of law, the ascription of members of this juridical person can, and according to case, must be carried out by that authority which is immediately responsible for the care of that juridical person; the same thing is to be observed if those members who still exist are by law incapable of carrying out the ascription.
§ 3. The appointment of administrators for an aggregate of things devolves upon the immediately higher authority if it cannot be carried out in accordance with the law; this same authority has the duty of administration in accordance with § 1, until he has appointed a suitable administrator.
§ 1. By its nature a juridical person is perpetual. It becomes extinct, however, if it is suppressed by the competent authority, or if in fact it ceased to be for a period of hundred years.
§ 2. A juridical person can be suppressed only for a serious reason, after consulting its moderators and observing the prescriptions laid down in the statutes in the matter of suppression.
Except for cases mentioned in common law:
1° the patriarch is competent, having consulted the permanent synod, to suppress juridical persons erected or approved by him; but with the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, the patriarch can suppress any juridical person except those that were erected or approved by the Apostolic See;
2° it is for the eparchial bishop, after consulting the college of eparchial consultors, to suppress the juridical persons he himself erected, unless they were approved by a higher authority;
3° in other cases, an authority that erected a juridical person cannot validly suppress it without obtaining the consent of the higher authority.
When the territory of a juridical person is divided in such a way that either a part of it is united to another juridical person or a distinct juridical person is established for the separated part, it is the duty of the authority who is responsible for the division to divide, in accordance with what is right and just, the goods held in common which had been destined for the good of the whole territory and the debts that had been contracted for the whole territory, while respecting each and every obligation as well as the wishes of pious founders or donors, legitimately acquired rights and the statutes by which the juridical person is governed.
On the extinction of a juridical person, its goods go to the next higher juridical person, with due regard always for the wishes of the founders or donors, legitimately acquired rights and the statutes by which the extinct juridical person was governed.
CHAPTER II.
JURIDIC ACTS
§ 1. For the validity of a juridical act, it is required that it be performed by a person who is legally capable and competent, and that there be in it those elements which constitute the essence of the act, as well as the formalities and requirements which the law demands for the validity of the act.
§ 2. A juridical act which with respect to its external elements is performed in accordance with the law, is presumed to be valid.
§ 1. An act is considered null if performed as a result of force brought to bear from without on a person who was quite unable to resist it.
§ 2. A juridical act performed as a result of some other force or of fear which is grave and unjustly inflicted, or as a result of trickery is valid unless the law provides otherwise. However, such an act can be rescinded by a court judgement, either at the instance of the injured party or that party\’s successors in law, or ex officio.
A juridical act is null if performed as a result of ignorance or of error concerning a substantial element of the act, or which amounts to a condition sine qua non; otherwise it is valid, unless it is provided otherwise in law. But a juridical act performed as a result of ignorance or of error can give rise to a rescinding action in accordance with the norm of law.
§ 1. If it is determined in the law that in order to perform a juridical act an authority needs the consent or the counsel of a group of persons, that group must be convoked according to the norm of can. 948, unless particular law provides otherwise for cases specified in that law and requiring only that counsel be sought. For the juridical act to be valid it is required that the consent of an absolute majority of those present be obtained or that the counsel of all be sought, without prejudice to §2, n. 3.
§ 2. If it is determined in the law that in order to perform a juridical act an authority needs the consent or the counsel of certain persons as individuals:
1° if consent is required, the juridical act is invalid in case the authority does not seek the consent of those persons or acts contrary to their wish,
even of a single person;
2° if counsel is required, the juridical act is invalid in case the authority does not consult those persons;
3° although not at all obliged to accede to their counsel, even if it be unanimous, the authority is nevertheless not to depart from their counsel, especially if it is unanimous, unless there is, in his or her own judgement, an overriding reason.
§ 3. The authority which needs the consent or the counsel has the duty to provide those whose consent or counsel is required with the necessary information and to ensure absolutely their freedom of expression
§ 4. All whose consent or counsel is required are obliged to offer their pinion sincerely and to observe secrecy, an obligation which can be insisted upon by the authority.
Whoever unlawfully causes harm to another by a juridical act, or indeed by any other act which is malicious or culpable, is obliged to repair the damage done.
TITLE XX.
OFFICES
§ 1. An office in the Church is any function constituted in a stable manner by the Lord himself or by competent authority to further a spiritual purpose.
§ 2. The rights and the obligations proper to each office are defined by the law whereby the office is constituted or by the decree of the competent authority.
§ 3. It is for the authority which has the prerogative to constitute an office, to modify or suppress it as well, and to see to its canonical provision, unless the law expressly establishes otherwise or it is clear from the nature of the matter.
§ 1. One who sets up an office must see that the means required for its fulfilment are available and that the just remuneration of those who carry out the office is provided for.
§ 2. The particular law of each Church sui iuris is to determine in greater detail how these requirements are to be put in to effect, unless provision has already been made for certain matters by common law.
CANONICAL PROVISION OF OFFICES
An office cannot be validly obtained without canonical provision.
The provision of an ecclesiastical office is effected:
1° by its being freely conferred by the competent authority;
2° if there was an election, by its confirmation, or if the election does not need confirmation, by its acceptance on the part of the one elected;
3° if there was postulation, by its admission.
§ 1. In order to be promoted to an office, a person must be suitable, that is, endowed with those qualities which are required by law.
§ 2. When the person promoted to the office lacks the required qualities, the provision is null if this is provided in the law; otherwise it is valid, but it can be rescinded by a decree of the competent authority which must act observing equity.
A canonical provision for which no term has been prescribed by law, is never to be deferred beyond six usable months to be reckoned from the receipt of the news of the vacancy of the office.
Two or more offices which cannot be suitably discharged at the same time by the same person are not to be conferred upon anyone, unless there is real necessity.
§ 1. The provision of an office which in law is not vacant, is ipso iure invalid, nor is it convalidated by subsequent vacancy of the office.
§ 2. But if it is a question of an office which in law is conferred for a determined period of time the canonical provision can be made within six months before the expiration of this time, and it takes effect on the day of the vacancy of the office.
§ 3. A promise of an office, no matter by whom it is made, has no canonical effect.
An office which in law is vacant but happens to be held unlawfully by someone, can be conferred provided that according to the norm of law it is declared that the possession is not canonical and that mention is made of this declaration in the letter of conferral.
A person who confers an office, while supplying for someone who is negligent or impeded, thereby acquires no power over the person upon whom the office was conferred, and the juridical situation is the same as if the provision had been made according to the ordinary norm of law.
The provision of an office made as a result of fear which is grave and unjustly inflicted, or as a result of trickery or substantial error or simony, is ipso iure null.
ART.
I. ELECTION
§ 1. If a group has the right of election to an office, the election, unless it is provided otherwise in law, is not to be deferred beyond three usable months to be reckoned from the receipt of the notice of vacancy of the office. If this deadline has elapsed without election taking place, the competent authority, which has the right to confirm the election or provide for the office successively, is freely to provide for the vacant office.
§ 2. The competent authority can freely provide for the vacant office even if the group lost its right to elect in some other way.
§ 1. Without prejudice to particular law, the president of the group is to convoke the electors at a place and time that is convenient for them. If the convocation has to be personal, it is valid if it is made in the place of domicile or quasi-domicile or of residence.
§ 2. If one of those to be convoked is overlooked and is therefore absent, the election is valid; however, upon the request of such a one and after proof of the oversight and absence, the election, even if it has been confirmed, must be rescinded by the competent authority, provided that according to the norm of law it has been established that recourse was made within at least three days of receipt of the notice of the election.
§ 3. But if more than one-third of the electors were overlooked, the election is invalid ipso iure, unless all those overlooked were in fact present.
§ 1. Once the convocation has been made according to the canons, those present on the day and in the place designated in the convocation have the right to vote. Unless it is provided otherwise by law, there is no right to vote validly by letter or by proxy.
§ 2. If an elector is present in the residence in which the election is held but because of ill health is unable to be present at the election, his or her written vote is to be sought by the scrutineers.
Even if someone has the right to vote in his or her own name by several titles, that person can cast only one vote.
No one who is an outsider to the group can be admitted to the voting; otherwise the election is ipso iure null.
If the freedom to elect has been impeded in any way, the election is ipso iure null.
§ 1. The following are legally incapable to vote:
1° one incapable of a human act;
2° one lacking active voice;
3° one who has publicly rejected the Catholic faith, or has publicly defectedfrom communion with the Catholic Church.
§ 2. If any of the above has been admitted, that person\’s vote is null.The election, however, is valid, unless it is established that without that vote the person elected would not have gained the required number of votes.
§ 1. A vote is null, unless it is:
1° free; therefore, the vote is null if an elector has been made to choose directly or indirectly by grave fear or by trickery a certain person or several persons separately;
2° secret, certain, absolute, and determinate. Any contrary custom is reprobated.
§ 2. Conditions attached to a vote before an election are to be disregarded as if they were not added.
§ 1. Before the election begins at least two scrutineers are to be designated from among the group.
§ 2. The scrutineers are to collect the votes and, in the presence of the one presiding at the election check whether the number of vote corresponds to the number of electors; they are then to examine the votes themselves and to announce how many each person has received.
§ 3. If the number of votes does not equal the number of electors, nothing has been effected.
§ 4. The ballots are to be destroyed immediately after each balloting or after the session, if several ballotings have been held in the same session.
§ 5. All the proceedings of the election are to be accurately recorded by the one who acts as the notary. After they have been read out to the electors they are to be signed at least by that notary, by the one presiding and by the scrutineers, and they are to be preserved in the archive of the group.
§ 1. Unless it is provided otherwise in common law, in elections, once the majority of those who have to be convoked are present, the vote of an absolute majority of those who are present has the force of law, or, after two indecisive scrutinies, the vote of a relative majority in the third scrutiny. If, however, the votes are equal after the third scrutiny, the person who is senior by age is considered elected, except that if the elections are conducted among clerics or religious only, that person is to be deemed elected who is senior by sacred ordination, or, among religious, the senior by first profession.
§ 2. It is for the person who presides at the election to proclaim who has been elected.
§ 1. The election is to be intimated immediately in writing or in some other lawful way to the person elected.
§ 2. Within eight days of usable time from the receipt of the intimation the person elected must let the president of the group know whether or not he or she accepts the election; otherwise the election has no effect.
§ 3. If the person elected does not accept, he or she loses every right arising from the election nor is the election validated by a subsequent acceptance; the person, however, can be elected again. The group must proceed to a new election within a month of being notified of the non-acceptance of the election.
If the election does not need confirmation, the person elected by accepting the election immediately acquires the office with the full effects of law, unless it is provided otherwise in law; otherwise the person acquires only the right to claim confirmation.
§ 1. If the election needs confirmation, the person elected must personally or through someone else request confirmation by the competent authority not beyond eight days to be reckoned from the day of acceptance of the election; otherwise he or she is deprived of every right arising from the election, unless the person proves that he or she was prevented from petitioning for the confirmation by a just impediment.
§ 2. Before receiving confirmation, the person elected is not to become involved in the administration of the office. Any such acts performed by such a person are null.
§ 1. The competent authority may not refuse confirmation if the person elected is found suitable and the election was conducted in accordance with the norm of law.
§ 2. With the confirmation received, the person elected obtains the office with the full effects of law, unless it is provided otherwise in the law.
ART. II.
POSTULATION
If a canonical impediment which can be dispensed prevents the election of a person whom the electors deem to be more suitable and prefer, they can, unless law provides otherwise, with their votes postulate that person from the competent authority.
At least two-thirds of the votes are required for postulation to have any effect; or else the election proceeds as if nothing happened.
§ 1. The group must send the postulation as soon as possible but not beyond eight days of usable time to the competent authority to whom confirmation of the election belongs; this authority, if it does not have the power to dispense from the impediment and wishes to admit the postulation, must obtain a dispensation from the competent authority; if confirmation is not required, the postulation must be sent to the competent authority for the granting of the dispensation.
§ 2. If the postulation has not been sent within the prescribed time, it is ipso iure null, and the group loses for that instance the right to elect, unless it proves that it was prevented from sending the postulation by a just impediment.
§ 3. The one postulated acquires no right from the postulation; the competent authority is not obliged to admit it.
§ 4. The electors cannot revoke a postulation already sent to a competent authority.
CHAPTER II.
LOSS OF OFFICE
§ 1. If the postulation has not been admitted by the competent authority, the right of electing reverts to the group.
§ 2. The admission of the postulation is to be made known immediately to the one postulated observing can. 957, §§ 2 and 3.
§ 3. The person who accepts the postulation which has been admitted immediately acquires the office with the full effects of law.
§ 1. Office is lost, besides other cases prescribed by law, by the lapse of a determined time, by reaching the age determined by law, by resignation, by transfer, by removal and by privation.
§ 2. An office is not lost by the expiration in any way of the authority of the one who conferred it, unless the law provides otherwise.
§ 3. Loss of office by lapse of the determined time or by reaching a certain age takes effect only from the moment when it has been intimated in writing by the competent authority.
§ 4. The title of emeritus can be conferred upon the person who loses an office by reason of age determined by law or by a resignation which has been accepted.
Once it has taken effect, the loss of an office is to be made known as soon as possible to all who enjoy any right with respect to the canonical provision of the office.
ART. I.
RESIGNATION
Anyone who is capable of acting responsibly can resign from an office for a just cause.
A resignation made as a result of grave fear unjustly inflicted, r of deceit, or of substantial error, or of simony, is ipso iure null.
For a resignation to be valid it must be made, in writing or in the presence of two witnesses, to the authority who is competent for the canonical provision of the office; unless acceptance is needed, it takes effect immediately.
§ 1. A resignation which needs acceptance takes effect after the acceptance of the resignation has been intimated to the person resigning. If the acceptance of the resignation has not been intimated within three months to the person resigning, the resignation lacks all effect.
§ 2. One who resigns can revoke one\’s resignation only before its acceptance has been intimated.
§ 3. The authority is not to accept a resignation which is not based on a just and proportionate cause.
One who has resigned from an office can obtain the same office on the basis of another title.
ART. II.
TRANSFER
§ 1. Transfer can be made only by one who has the right of providing for the office which is being lost as well as for the office which is being conferred.
§ 2. If a transfer is made against the will of the holder of an office, a grave reason is required and the procedure prescribed by law is to be observed, without prejudice to the norms concerning members of religious institutes or of societies of common life in the manner of religious, and ith due regard for the right to present reasons against the transfer.
§ 3. For a transfer to have effect, it must be intimated in writing.
§1. In the case of a transfer, the former office becomes vacant by the taking of canonical possession of the other office, unless it is provided otherwise by law or is prescribed differently by the competent authority.
§ 2. The person transferred receives the remuneration attached to the former office until the moment of taking canonical possession of the other office.
ART. III.
REMOVAL
§ 1. A person is removed from office either by a decree lawfully issued by the competent authority, with due regard of course for the rights possibly acquired from a contract, or ipso iure in accordance with the norm of can. 976.
§ 2. For a decree of removal to be effective, it must be intimated in writing.
§ 1. Unless it is provided otherwise in law, no one can be removed from an office conferred for an indefinite period of time except for a grave reason and observing the manner prescribed in law. The same applies to the removal of a person from office before the expiry of the term, if the office was conferred for a determined period of time.
§ 2. If in accordance with the prescriptions of law an office has been conferred upon a person at the prudent discretion of the competent authority, that person can be removed from it for a reason considered just by the same authority, with due regard for equity.
§ 1. The following are removed from office ipso iure:
1° one who has lost the clerical state;
2° one who has publicly abandoned the Catholic faith or has defected from communion with the Catholic Church;
3° a cleric who has attempted marriage, even a civil one.
§ 2. The removal mentioned in §1, nn. 2 and 3 can be insisted upon only if it is established by a declaration of the competent authority.
If it is not ipso iure but by a decree of the competent authority that a person is removed from an office on which that person\’s livelihood depends, the same authority is to see to it that the person\’s livelihood is secure for an appropriate time, unless this has been otherwise provided.
ART. IV.
PRIVATION
Deprivation of office can be inflicted only as a penalty for an offence.
TITLE XXI.
THE POWER OF GOVERNANCE
§ 1. Those who have been constituted in sacred orders are, in accordance with the norm of law, capable of the power of governance, which exists in the Church by divine institution.
§ 2. The rest of the Christian faithful can co-operate in the exercise of the power of governance in accordance with the norm of law.
§1. The power of governance is either of the external forum or of the internal forum whether sacramental or non-sacramental.
§ 2. If the power of governance is exercised only for the internal forum, the effects which its exercise would normally have in the external forum are not acknowledged in that forum except in so far as the law provides for this in certain cases.
§ 1. The ordinary power of governance is that which is joined to a certain office ipso iure; delegated power is that which is granted to a person, but not by means of an office.
§ 2. The ordinary power of governance can be either proper or vicarious.
§ 1. Habitual faculties are governed by the prescriptions about delegated power.
§ 2. However, unless otherwise expressly provided in the grant or unless the hierarch has been chosen on personal considerations, a habitual faculty granted to a hierarch does not lapse on the expiry of that hierarch\’s authority, but it passes to any hierarch who succeeds him in governance.
§ 1. One who claims to have been delegated has the onus of proving the delegation.
§ 2. A delegate who exceeds the limits of his mandate with regard either to matters or to persons, performs no act at all.
§ 3. A delegate is not considered to be exceeding the limits of his mandate if he discharges what he was delegated to do in a manner other than that determined in the mandate, unless the manner of acting has been prescribed for validity by the one delegating.
§ 1. Besides the Roman Pontiff the following are hierarchs: first of all the patriarch, the major archbishop, the metropolitan who presides over a metropolitan Church sui iuris, and the eparchial bishop, as well as those who succeed these in the interim governance in accordance with the norm of law.
§ 2. Besides the Roman Pontiff the following are local hierarchs: the eparchial bishop, the exarch, the apostolic administrator, as well as those who in their absence lawfully succeed them in the interim governance, also the protosyncellus and the syncellus. The patriarch, the major archbishop, the metropolitan who presides over a metropolitan Church sui iuris, as well as those who succeed them in the interim governance in accordance with the law, are local hierarchs only with regard to the eparchy which they govern, without prejudice to can. 101.
§ 3. The major superiors in institutes of consecrated life who have ordinary power of governance, are also hierarchs, but not local hierarchs.
§ 1. The power of governance is divided into legislative, executive and judicial.
§ 2. Legislative power is to be exercised in the manner prescribed by law. The legislative power which a legislator in the Church lower than the highest Church authority has, cannot be validly delegated, unless it is otherwise explicitly provided in the common law. A lower legislator cannot validly enact a law which is contrary to a higher ius.
§ 3. The judicial power which judges or judicial colleges have, is to be exercised in the manner prescribed by law. It cannot be validly delegated, except for the performance of acts which are preparatory to some decree or judgement.
One can exercise executive power over one\’s subjects, even when one is outside one\’s territorial boundaries or they are, unless common law provides otherwise or the contrary is certain from the nature of things. One can also exercise this power over peregrines who are actually living in the territory, if it is a matter of granting favours or of enforcing either common law or particular law by which they are bound according to the norm of can. 1491, §3.
The prerogatives attributed pointedly to the eparchial bishop in the area of executive power of governance either by common law or by the particular law of a Church sui iuris, are understood to be the competence of the eparchial bishop and of the exarch, to the exclusion of the protosyncellus and the syncelli, except by special mandate.
§ 1. Ordinary executive power can be delegated either for a single case or for all cases, unless the law expressly provides otherwise.
§ 2. Executive power delegated by the Apostolic See or by the patriarch can be subdelegated, whether for a single case or for all cases, unless the delegation is granted on personal considerations or subdelegation is expressly prohibited.
§ 3. If executive power delegated by another authority having ordinary power was delegated for all cases, it can be subdelegated only for individual cases; if, however, it is delegated for one act or for determinate acts, it cannot be subdelegated except by the express grant of the one delegating.
§ 4. No subdelegated power can again be subdelegated validly, unless this was expressly granted by the person delegating.
Ordinary executive power as well as power delegated for all cases must be interpreted broadly; any other power strictly. Delegation of power is, however, understood to include everything necessary for the exercise of that power.
§ 1. Executive power delegated to several persons is presumed to be delegated to them individually.
§ 2. When several persons have been delegated individually to deal with the same matter, the person who has begun to deal with it excludes the others from acting, unless that person is subsequently impeded, or does not wish to proceed further with the matter.
§ 3. When several persons have been delegated to act collegially in dealing with a certain matter, all must proceed according to the prescriptions established for collegial acts, unless the mandate provides otherwise.
§ 1. Ordinary power is lost on the loss of the office to which it was attached.
§ 2. Unless it is provided otherwise in the law, ordinary power is suspended if an appeal or recourse is lawfully made against the privation of, or removal from, office.
§ 1. Delegated power is lost on the completion of the mandate; on the expiry of the time of conferral or on the completion of the number of cases for which it was granted; on the cessation of the motivating reason for the delegation; on the revocation by the person delegating directly intimated to the delegate; and on the resignation of the delegate presented to and accepted by the person delegating. Delegated power is not lost, however, on the expiry of the authority of the one delegating, unless this appears from clauses attached to the grant.
§ 2. An act of delegated power which is exercised only for the internal forum and which is placed inadvertently after the lapse of time or after the completion of the number of cases for which it was granted, is valid.
Executive power of governance is not suspended by the fact that a recourse has been made, unless it is provided expressly otherwise in common law.
In common error, whether of fact or of law, and in positive and probable doubt, whether about law or about fact, the Church supplies executive power of governance both for the external and for the internal forum.
The prescriptions of law concerning executive power of governance apply, unless it is provided otherwise in common law or it is evident from the nature of the matter, also to the power mentioned in cann. 441, § 1 and 511, § 1 and to the faculties which are required by law for the valid celebration or administration of sacraments.
TITLE XXII.
RECOURSES AGAINST ADMINISTRATIVE DECREES
Whatever is laid down in the canons of this title concerning decrees, is also to be applied to all singular administrative acts which are performed by any lawful power in the Church in the external forum outside of a trial, with the exception of those issued by the Roman Pontiff or an ecumenical council.
§ 1. One who considers to be injured by a decree can have recourse to the higher authority of the person who issued the decree, in accordance with the norm of law.
§ 2. The recourse against decrees of the protosyncellus or the syncelli is first made to the eparchial bishop; against the decrees of those who act with delegated power recourse is made to the one who delegated.
§ 1. If a person holds that he or she is injured by a decree, it is greatly to be desired that there be no contention between that person and the author of the decree but that measures be taken to find an equitable solution between them, possibly enlisting the services of serious-minded persons to mediate or study the matter, so that the controversy is resolved through a voluntary emendation of the decree or through just compensation or in some other suitable way.
§ 2. Concerning the aforesaid the higher authority is to exhort the parties before accepting the recourse.
§ 1. Before having recourse, the person must petition the author of the decree in writing for its revocation or emendation. This is to be done within a peremptory time-limit of ten days to be reckoned from the intimation of the decree. Once this petition has been lodged, it is ipso iure understood that the suspension of the execution of the decree is also being petitioned.
§ 2. The obligation of petitioning the revocation or emendation of a decree does not apply in the case of the first recourse against the decrees mentioned in can. 997, §2, or of successive recourse except for recourse against decrees of the eparchial bishop, by which any first recourse has been decided.
§ 1. In cases in which recourse suspends the execution of the decree the petition mentioned in can. 999, §1 has also the same effect.
§ 2. In other cases, unless within ten days from the receipt of the petition the author of the decree suspends its execution, a suspension for the interim can be petitioned from his higher authority, who can decide it only for a grave reason and must take care that the salvation of souls suffers noharm. If the recourse is lodged later, the authority who decides the recourse is to determine whether the suspension of the execution of the decree is to be confirmed or revoked.
§ 3. If no recourse is lodged against the decree within the time-limit established, or if recourse is lodged only to petition the reparation of damages, the suspension of the execution of the decree lapses ipso iure.
§ 1. Recourse must be lodged within a peremptory time-limit of fifteen days.
§ 2. The time-limit of fifteen days runs:
1° in a case in which the petition of revocation or emendation of the decree is to be made before, from the day of the intimation of the decree by which the author amended the previous decree or rejected the petition, or, if he decreed nothing, from the thirtieth day of the receipt of the petition;
2° in other cases, from the day on which the decree was intimated.
The higher authority must, within sixty days of receipt of the recourse, issue a decree by which the recourse is decided, unless the particular law of his own Church sui iuris has fixed other time-limits. If this has not been done and the person having recourse petitions in writing that the decree be made, on the thirtieth day after the receipt of this petition, if still nothing has been done, the recourse is considered rejected as if it was rejected on that day by a decree, so that a new recourse can be lodged against that authority.
In recourses against administrative decrees, can. 1517 is to be observed, making suitable adaptations. The person making the recourse has always the right to the services of an advocate or procurator, but is to avoid useless delays. Indeed, an advocate is to be appointed ex officio if the person making the recourse does not have one and the higher authority considers it necessary. The higher authority can always order the person making the recourse to appear in person to answer questions.
The higher authority deciding the recourse can not only confirm the decree or declare it null, but also rescind or revoke it, but not amend it, unless the particular law of his Church sui iuris accords also this power to the same higher authority.
Even if the decree has been confirmed, declared null, rescinded, revoked, or amended by the higher authority, it is the person who issued the first decree that is the respondent in the matter of the reparation of damages, if any are due. The higher authority is responsible to the extent of the damages caused by its decree.
Recourse against the administrative decrees of a patriarch is made, even in the case of decrees concerning the eparchy of the patriarch or of a decree by which the patriarch decides a recourse, to a special group of bishops that is to be constituted in accordance with the norm of particular law, unless the question is deferred to the Apostolic See. Against the decision of the said group there is no further recourse, except the referral to the Roman Pontiff in person.
