КОДЕКС КАНОНІВ СХІДНИХ ЦЕРКОВ
Ср. католичество.
Каноны.
TITLE 1 The Rights and Obligations of All the Christian Faithful
Canon 7 1. The Christian faithful are those who, incorporated in Christ through
baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reason, since they
have become sharers in Christ's priestly, prophetic and royal function in their
own manner; they are called, in accordance with the condition proper to each,
to exercise the mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the
world. 2. This Church, constituted and organized as a society in this world, subsists
in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in
communion with him.
Canon 8 In full communion with the Catholic Church on this earth are those
baptized persons who are joined with Christ in its visible structure by the bonds
of profession of faith, of the sacraments and of ecclesiastical governance.
Canon 9 1. Since catechumens are in union with the Church in a special manner,
that is, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they ask to be incorporated into
the Church by explicit choice and are therefore united with the Church by that
choice just as by a life of faith, hope and charity which they lead; the Church
already cherishes them as its own. 2. The Church has special care for catechumens,
invites them to lead the evangelical life and introduces them into participation
in the Divine Liturgy, the sacraments and the divine praises, and already grants
them various prerogatives which are proper to Christians.
Canon 10 Attached to the Word of God and adhering to the authentic, living
magisterium of the Church, the Christian faithful are bound to maintain integrally
the faith which was preserved and transmitted at a great price by many and to
profess it openly as well as to strive both to understand it better and to make
it fruitful in works of charity.
Canon 11 In virtue of their rebirth in Christ there exists among all the Christian
faithful a true equality with regard to dignity and the activity whereby all cooperate
in the building up of the Body of Christ in accord with each one's own condition
and function.
Canon 12 1. The Christian faithful are bound by an obligation in their own
patterns of activity always to maintain communion with the Church. 2. They are
to fulfill with great diligence the duties which they owe to the universal Church
and to their own Church sui iuris.
Canon 13 All the Christian faithful must make an effort, in accord with each
one's own condition, to live a holy life and to promote the growth of the Church
and its continual sanctification.
Canon 14 All the Christian faithful have the right and the obligation of working
so that the divine message of salvation may increasingly reach all peoples in
every age and in every land.
Canon 15 1. The Christian faithful, conscious of their own responsibility,
are bound by Christian obedience to follow what the pastors of the Church, as
representatives of Christ, declare as teachers of the faith or determine as leaders
of the Church. 2. The Christian faithful are free to make known their needs, especially
spiritual ones, and their desires to the pastors of the Church. 3. In accord with
the knowledge, competence and position which they possess, they have the right
and even at times a duty to manifest to the pastors of the Church their opinion
on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make
their opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard for the integrity
of faith and morals and reverence for the same pastors, and with consideration
for the common good and the dignity of persons.
Canon 16 The Christian faithful have the right to receive assistance from the
pastors of the Church from the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word
of God and the sacraments.
Canon 17 The Christian faithful have the right to worship God according to
the prescriptions of their own Church sui iuris, and to follow their own form
of spiritual life consonant with the teaching of the Church.
Canon 18 The Christian faithful are free to found and to govern associations
for charitable and religious purposes or for the promotion of the Christian vocation
in the world; they are free to hold meetings to pursue these purposes in common.
Canon 19 All the Christian faithful, since they participate in the mission
of the Church, have the right to promote or to sustain apostolic action by their
own undertakings in accord with each one's state and condition; however, no undertaking
shall assume the name "Catholic" unless the consent of competent ecclesiastical
authority is given.
Canon 20 The Christian faithful since they are called by baptism to lead a
life in conformity with the teaching of the gospel, have the right to a Christian
education by which they will be properly instructed so as to develop the maturity
of a human person and at the same time come to know and live the mystery of salvation.
Canon 21 Those who are engaged in the sacred disciplines enjoy a lawful freedom
of inquiry and of prudently expressing their opinions on matters in which they
have expertise, while observing obsequium for the magisterium of the Church.
Canon 22 All the Christian faithful have the right to be free from any kind
of coercion in choosing a state in life.
Canon 23 No one is permitted to damage unlawfully the good reputation which
another person enjoys nor to violate the right of any person to protect his or
her own privacy.
Canon 24 1. The Christian faithful can legitimately vindicate and defend the
rights which they enjoy in the Church before a competent ecclesiastical court
in accordance with the norm of law. 2. The Christian faithful also have the right,
if they are summoned to judgment by competent authority, to be judged in accordance
with the prescriptions of the law to be applied with equity. 3. The Christian
faithful have the right not to be punished with
Canonical penalties except in accordance with the norm of law.
Canon 25 1. The Christian faithful are obliged to assist with the needs of
the Church so that the Church has what is necessary for its proper ends, especially
for divine worship, for apostolic works and works of charity and for the decent
sustenance of ministers. 2. They are also obliged to promote social justice and,
mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources.
Canon 26 1. In exercising their rights the Christian faithful, both as individuals
and when gathered in associations, must take account of the common good of the
Church and of the rights of others as well as their own obligations toward others.
2. In the interest of the common good, ecclesiastical authority has competence
to regulate the exercise of the rights which belong to the Christian faithful.
TITLE 2 Churches Sui Iuris and Rites
Canon 27 A group of Christian faithful united by a hierarchy according to the
norm of law which the supreme authority of the Church expressly or tacitly recognizes
as sui iuris is called in this Code a Church sui iuris.
Canon 28 1. A rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary
patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which
its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris. 2.
The rites treated in this code, unless otherwise stated, are those which arise
from the Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, Chaldean and Constantinopolitan traditions.
Canon 29 1. By virtue of baptism, a child who has not yet completed his fourteenth
year of age is enrolled in the Church sui iuris of the Catholic father; or the
Church sui iuris of the mother if only the mother is Catholic or if both parents
by agreement freely request it, with due regard for particular law established
by the Apostolic See. 2. If the child who has not yet completed his fourteenth
year is: (1) born of an unwed mother, he is enrolled in the Church sui iuris to
which the mother belongs; (2) born of unknown parents, he is to be enrolled in
the Church sui iuris of those in whose care he has been legitimately committed
are enrolled; if it is a case of an adoptive father and mother, 1 should be applied;
(3) born of non-baptized parents, the child is to be a member of the Church sui
iuris of the one who is responsible for his education in the Catholic faith.
Canon 30 Anyone to be baptized who has completed the fourteenth year of age
can freely select any Church sui iuris in which he or she then is enrolled by
virtue of baptism received in that same Church, with due regard for particular
law established by the Apostolic See.
Canon 31 No one can presume in any way to induce the Christian faithful to
transfer to another Church sui iuris.
Canon 32 1. No one can validly transfer to another Church sui iuris without
the consent of the Apostolic See. 2. In the case of Christian faithful of an eparchy
of a certain Church sui iuris who petition to transfer to another Church sui iuris
which has its own eparchy in the same territory, this consent of the Apostolic
See is presumed, provided that the eparchial bishops of both eparchies consent
to the transfer in writing.
Canon 33 A wife is at liberty to transfer to the Church of the husband at the
celebration of or during the marriage; when the marriage has ended, she can freely
return to the original Church sui iuris.
Canon 34 If the parents, or the Catholic spouse in the case of a mixed marriage,
transfer to another Church sui iuris, children under fourteen years old by the
law itself are enrolled in the same Church; if in a marriage of Catholics only
one parent transfers to another Church sui iuris, the children transfer only if
both parents consent. Upon completion of the fourteenth year of age, the children
can return to the original Church sui iuris. Canon 35 Baptized non-Catholics coming
into full communion with the Catholic Church should retain and practice their
own rite everywhere in the world and should observe it as much as humanly possible.
Thus, they are to be enrolled in the Church sui iuris of the same rite with due
regard for the right of approaching the Apostolic See in special cases of persons,
communities or regions.
Canon 36 The transfer to another Church sui iuris takes effect at the moment
a declaration is made before the local hierarch or the proper pastor of the same
Church or a priest delegated by either of them and two witnesses, unless the rescript
of the Apostolic See provides otherwise.
Canon 37 Every enrollment in a certain Church sui iuris or transfer to another
Church sui iuris should be recorded in the baptismal register of the parish where
the baptism was celebrated, even, as the case may be, in a Latin parish; if this
cannot be done, it is to be kept by the proper pastor in another document in the
archive of the parish of the Church sui iuris of enrollment.
Canon 38 Christian faithful of Eastern Churches even if committed to the care
of a hierarch or pastor of another Church sui iuris, nevertheless remain enrolled
in their own Church.
Canon 39 The rites of the Eastern Churches, as the patrimony of the entire Church
of Christ, in which there is clearly evident the tradition which has come from
the Apostles through the Fathers and which affirm the divine unity in diversity
of the Catholic faith, are to be religiously preserved and fostered.
Canon 40 1. Hierarchs who preside over Churches sui iuris and all other hierarchs
are to see most carefully to the faithful protection and accurate observance of
their own rite, and not admit changes in it except by reason of its organic progress,
keeping in mind, however, mutual goodwill and the unity of Christians. 2. Other
clerics and members of institutes of consecrated life are bound to observe their
own rite faithfully and daily to acquire a greater understanding and a more perfect
practice of it. 3. Other Christian faithful are also to foster an understanding
and appreciation of their own rite, and are held to observe it everywhere unless
something is excused by the law.
Canon 41 The Christian faithful of any Church sui iuris, even the Latin Church,
who have frequent relations with the Christian faithful of another Church sui
iuris by reason of their office, ministry, or function, are to be accurately instructed
in the knowledge and practice of the rite of that Church in keeping with the seriousness
of the office, ministry or function which they fulfill.
TITLE 3 The Supreme Authority of the Church
Canon 42 Just as, by the Lord's decision, Saint Peter and the other Apostles
constitute one college, so in a similar way the Roman Pontiff, successor of Peter,
and the bishops, successors of the Apostles, are joined together.
Canon 43 The bishop of the Church of Rome, in whom resides the office (munus)
given in special way by the Lord to Peter, first of the Apostles and to be transmitted
to his successors, is head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and
Pastor of the entire Church on earth; therefore, in virtue of his office (munus)
he enjoys supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the Church
which he can always freely exercise.
Canon 44 1. The Roman Pontiff obtains full and supreme power in the Church
by means of legitimate election accepted by him together with episcopal consecration;
therefore, one who is already a bishop obtains this same power from the moment
he accepts his election to the pontificate, but if the one elected lacks the episcopal
character, he is to be ordained a bishop immediately. 2. If it should happen that
the Roman Pontiff resigns his office (munus), it is required for validity that
he makes the resignation freely and that it be duly manifested, but not that it
be accepted by anyone.
Canon 45 1. The Roman Pontiff, by virtue of his office (munus), not only has
power over the entire Church but also possesses a primacy of ordinary power over
all the eparchies and groupings of them by which the proper, ordinary and immediate
power which bishops possess in the eparchy entrusted to their care is both strengthened
and safeguarded. 2. The Roman Pontiff, in fulfilling the office (munus) of the
supreme pastor of the Church is always united in communion with the other bishops
and with the entire Church; however, he has the right, according to the needs
of the Church, to determine the manner, either personal or collegial, of exercising
this function. 3. There is neither appeal nor recourse against a sentence or decree
of the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 46 1. In exercising his office (munus) the Roman Pontiff is assisted
by the bishops who aid him in various ways and among these is the synod of bishops;
moreover the cardinals, the Roman curia, pontifical legates and other persons
and various institutes assist him according to the needs of the times; all these
persons and institutes carry out the task committed to them in his name and by
his authority for the good of all the Churches, according to the norm of law established
by the Roman Pontiff himself. 2. The participation of patriarchs and other hierarchs
who preside over Churches sui iuris in the synod of bishops is regulated by special
norms established by the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 47 When the Roman see is vacant or entirely impeded nothing is to be innovated
in the governance of the entire Church; however, special laws enacted for those
circumstances are to be observed.
Canon 48 In this Code the term "Apostolic See" or "Holy See"
applies not only to the Roman Pontiff but also, unless it is otherwise prescribed
by the law or the nature of the matter indicates otherwise, dicasteries and other
institutes of the Roman curia.
Canon 49 The college of bishops, whose head is the Roman Pontiff and whose
members are the bishops by virtue of sacramental ordination and hierarchical communion
with the head and members of the college, and in which the apostolic body continually
endures, together with its head, and never without its head, is also the subject
of supreme and full power over the universal Church.
Canon 50 1. The college of bishops exercises power over the entire Church in
a solemn manner in an ecumenical council. 2. The college exercises the same power
through the united action of the bishops dispersed in the world, which action
as such has been initiated or has been freely accepted by the Roman Pontiff so
that a truly collegial act results. 3. It is for the Roman Pontiff, in keeping
with the needs of the Church, to select and promote the ways by which the college
of bishops is to exercise collegially its function regarding the entire Church.
Canon 51 1. It is for the Roman Pontiff alone to convoke an ecumenical council,
to preside over it personally or through others, to transfer, suspend or dissolve
it, and to confirm its decrees. 2. It is for the same Roman Pontiff to determine
matters to be treated in a council and to establish the order to be followed in
the same council; to the questions proposed by the Roman Pontiff the fathers of
a council can add other questions, to be approved by the same Roman Pontiff.
Canon 52 1. It is the right and obligation of all and only the bishops who
are members of the college of bishops to participate in an ecumenical council
with a deliberative vote. 2. The supreme authority of the Church can also call
others who are not bishops to an ecumenical council and determine what part they
take in it.
Canon 53 If the Apostolic See becomes vacant during the celebration of a council,
it is interrupted by the law itself until a new Roman Pontiff orders it to be
continued or dissolves it.
Canon 54 1. Decrees of an ecumenical council do not have obligatory force unless
they are approved by the Roman Pontiff together with the fathers of the council
and are confirmed by the Roman Pontiff and promulgated at his order. 2. When the
college of bishops takes collegial action in another manner, initiated or freely
accepted by the Roman Pontiff, in order for its decrees to have binding force,
they need this same confirmation and promulgation. TITLE 4 The Patriarchal Churches
Canon 55 According to the most ancient tradition of the Church, already recognized
by the first ecumenical councils, the patriarchal institution has existed in the
Church; for this reason a special honor is to be accorded to the patriarchs of
the Eastern Churches, each of whom presides over his patriarchal Church as father
and head.
Canon 56 A patriarch is a bishop who enjoys power over all bishops including
metropolitans and other Christian faithful of the Church over which he presides
according to the norm of law approved by the supreme authority of the Church.
Canon 57 1. The erection, restoration, modification and suppression of patriarchal
Churches is reserved to the supreme authority of the Church. 2. Only the supreme
authority of the Church can modify the legitimately recognized or conceded title
of each patriarchal Church. 3. If it is possible, a patriarchal Church must have
a permanent see for the residence of the patriarch in a principal city inside
its own territory from which the patriarch takes his title; this see cannot be
transferred except for a most grave reason and with the consent of the synod of
bishops of the patriarchal Church and the assent of the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 58 Patriarchs of Eastern Churches precede all bishops of any degree everywhere
in the world, with due regard for special norms of precedence established by the
Roman Pontiff.
Canon 59 1. Patriarchs of Eastern Churches, even if some are of later times, are
all equal by reason of patriarchal dignity with due regard for the precedence
of honor among them. 2. The order of precedence among the ancient patriarchal
sees of the Eastern Churches is that in the first place comes the see of Constantinople,
after that Alexandria, then Antioch and Jerusalem. 3. Among the other patriarchs
of the Eastern Churches, precedence is ordered according to the antiquity of the
patriarchal see. 4. Among the patriarchs of the Eastern Churches who each are
of the same title but who preside over different patriarchal Churches, he has
precedence who was first promoted to the patriarchal dignity.
Canon 60 1. In churches which are designated for the Christian faithful of
the Church over which he presides and in liturgical celebrations of the same Church,
a patriarch precedes other patriarchs, even if they are greater in virtue of title
of the see or senior according to promotion. 2. A patriarch who currently holds
patriarchal power precedes those who retain the title of a patriarchal see which
they once held.
Canon 61 A patriarch can have a procurator at the Apostolic See appointed by
him with the prior assent of the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 62 A patriarch who has resigned from his office retains his title and
honors especially during liturgical celebrations and has the right that a dignified
residence be assigned to him with his consent and that appropriate to his title
he be provided with the means for his support, with due regard for the norm on
precedence in can. 60, 2.
Canon 63 A patriarch is canonically elected in the synod of bishops of the
patriarchal Church.
Canon 64 Those things which are required for someone to be considered suitable
for the patriarchal dignity are delineated in particular law, always with due
regard for those which are prescribed in can. 180.
Canon 65 1. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church must be convened
in the patriarchal residence or in another place to be designated by the administrator
of the patriarchal Church with the consent of the permanent synod. 2. The synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church must be convened within one month of the
vacancy of the see with due regard for establishing a longer term in particular
law, but not, however, beyond two months.
Canon 66 1. In the election of a patriarch all and only members of the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church enjoy an active vote. 2. It is forbidden
for anyone other than the members of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
to be present in the room during the election of a patriarch, except those clerics
who are admitted as tellers or secretary of the synod according to the norms of
can. 71, 1. 3. It is not permitted for anyone either before or during the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church to be involved in the election of the patriarch.
Canon 67 In the election of a patriarch cann. 947-957 are to be observed, every
contrary custom being reprobated unless it is established otherwise by common
law.
Canon 68 1. All bishops legitimately convoked are bound by the grave obligation
to be present at the election. 2. If a certain bishop considers himself to be
detained by a just impediment, he is to submit his reasons in writing to the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church. The legitimacy of the impediment is to be
decided upon by the bishops who are present in the designated place at the first
session of the synod.
Canon 69 Once the convocation has taken place according to the canons, if two-thirds
of the bishops who are obliged to be present at the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church, excluding those who are detained by a legitimate impediment, are present
at the designated location, the synod is to be declared canonical and can proceed
with the election.
Canon 70 Unless particular law establishes otherwise, the one who is elected
by those present in the first session is to preside over the synod of bishops
of the patriarchal Church for the election of the patriarch; in the meantime the
presidency is reserved to the administrator of the patriarchal Church.
Canon 71 1. The positions of tellers and secretary can also be filled by priests
and deacons according to the norm of particular law. 2. All who are present at
the synod are bound to the serious obligation of observing secrecy concerning
those matters which directly or indirectly concern the balloting.
Canon 72 1. He is elected who obtains two-thirds of the votes, unless particular
law establishes that after an appropriate number of ballots, at least three, an
absolute majority of the votes suffices, and the election is to be conducted according
the norms of can. 183, 3-4. 2. If an election is not successful within fifteen
days from the opening of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, the matter
devolves to the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 73 If the one who is elected is at least a legitimately proclaimed bishop,
the presiding officer, or if the presiding officer was elected, the senior bishop
according to episcopal ordination, in the name of the entire synod of bishops
of the patriarchal Church, is immediately to communicate the election to the one
who is elected according to the formula and manner used in that patriarchal Church.
However, if the one who is elected is not yet a legitimately proclaimed bishop,
secrecy is to be observed by everyone who in any way knows the results of the
election, even toward the one elected. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church is suspended and notification is made when all canonical requirements for
the episcopal proclamation are executed.
Canon 74 Within two available days after being notified, the one who is elected
must indicate whether he accepts the election. If he does not accept or does not
respond within two days, he loses all rights which are acquired by the election.
Canon 75 If the one who is elected accepted and is an ordained bishop, the
synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church proceeds with his proclamation and
enthronement as patriarch according to the prescriptions of the liturgical books;
if the one who is elected is not yet an ordained bishop, the enthronement cannot
be performed validly before the one who is elected receives episcopal ordination.
Canon 76 1. By means of a synodal letter, the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church notifies the Roman Pontiff as soon as possible about the canonical conduct
of the election and enthronement and that the new patriarch made a profession
of faith and the promise to exercise his office with fidelity in the presence
of the synod according to the approved formulas. Synodal letters that an election
took place are also to be sent to the patriarchs of the other Eastern Churches.
2. The new patriarch must as soon as possible request ecclesiastical communion
from the Roman Pontiff by means of a letter signed in his own hand.
Canon 77 1. A canonically elected patriarch validly exercises his office only
after enthronement by which he obtains his office with the full effects of law.
2. The patriarch is not to convoke a synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
nor ordain bishops before he receives ecclesiastical communion from the Roman
Pontiff.
Canon 78 1. The power which, according to the norm of the canons and legitimate
customs, the patriarch has over bishops and other Christian faithful of the Church
over which he presides is ordinary and proper, but personal. Thus, the patriarch
cannot constitute a vicar for the entire patriarchal Church nor can he delegate
his power to someone for all cases. 2. The power of the patriarch is exercised
validly only inside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church unless
the nature of the matter or the common or particular law approved by the Roman
Pontiff establishes otherwise.
Canon 79 The patriarch represents the patriarchal Church in all its juridic
affairs.
Canon 80 The patriarch is: (1) to exercise the rights and to fulfill the obligations
of a metropolitan in all places where provinces are not erected; (2) to supply
for the negligence of metropolitans according to the norm of law; (3) to exercise
the rights and to fulfill the obligations of a metropolitan in the entire province
during the vacancy of a metropolitan see; (4) to warn a metropolitan who did not
appoint a finance officer according to can. 262, 1; if the warning is made in
vain, he himself is to appoint a finance officer.
Canon 81 Acts of the Roman Pontiff for the patriarchal Church concerning bishops
or others to whom it may concern, are to be communicated through the patriarch
unless in a case the Apostolic See has directly communicated it.
Canon 82 1. By his own right the patriarch can: (1) within the scope of his
competence, issue decrees which determine more precisely the methods to be observed
in applying the law or urge the observance of a law; (2) direct instructions to
the Christian faithful of the entire Church over which he presides for the purpose
of explaining sound doctrine, fostering piety, correcting abuses, and approving
and recommending practices which foster the spiritual welfare of the Christian
faithful; (3) issue encyclical letters to the entire Church over which he presides
concerning questions with respect to his own Church and rite. 2. The patriarch
can order bishops and other clerics as well as members of institutes of consecrated
life of the entire Church over which he presides to read and to explain publicly
in their churches or houses his decrees, instructions, and encyclical letters.
3. In all matters which concern the entire Church over which he presides or more
serious affairs, the patriarch will not fail to hear the permanent synod, the
synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, or even the patriarchal assembly.
Canon 83 1. With due regard for the right and obligation of the eparchial bishop
of canonically visiting his own eparchy, the patriarch has the right and obligation
to conduct a pastoral visitation of the same eparchy at the time determined by
particular law. 2. For serious reasons and with the consent of the permanent synod,
the patriarch can visit a church, city, or eparchy either personally or through
another bishop; during this visitation he can do all those things the eparchial
bishop can do during a canonical visitation.
Canon 84 1. The patriarch should most especially take care that either he himself
or the eparchial bishops of the Church over which he presides, after consultation,
especially in the assemblies provided by law, with the patriarchs and eparchial
bishops of other Churches sui iuris who exercise their power in the same territory,
promote a unity of action among themselves and other Christian faithful of each
Church sui iuris. Thus, in a united effort, they can assist in common works for
the more expeditious promotion of the good of religion, for the more effective
protection of ecclesiastical discipline and the harmonious fostering of unity
of all Christians. 2. The patriarch is also to foster frequent gatherings, to
be convoked according to his prudent judgment, among the hierarchs and other Christian
faithful regarding pastoral matters and other affairs which concern the entire
Church over which he presides or a certain province or region.
Canon 85 1. For a serious reason, with the consent of the synod of bishops of
the patriarchal Church and having consulted the Apostolic See, the patriarch can
establish provinces and eparchies, modify their boundaries, unite, divide, suppress,
and modify their hierarchical status and transfer the eparchial see. 2. With the
consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, the patriarch is competent:
(1) to give to an eparchial bishop a coadjutor bishop or auxiliary bishop, observing
cann. 181, 1 and 182-187 and 212; (2) for a grave reason, to transfer a metropolitan,
eparchial bishop or titular bishop to another metropolitan, eparchial or titular
see; if the bishop refuses, the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is
to resolve the matter or defer it to the Roman Pontiff. 3. With the consent of
the permanent synod, the patriarch can erect, modify and suppress exarchies. 4.
The patriarch is to notify the Apostolic See of these decisions as soon as possible.
Canon 86 1. The patriarch is competent: (1) to give a patriarchal letter of
canonical provision to a metropolitan or a bishop; (2) to ordain metropolitans
either personally or, if impeded, through other bishops, and, if particular law
thus stipulates, also to ordain all bishops; (3) to enthrone the metropolitan
after episcopal ordination. 2. By virtue of the law itself the faculty is given
to the patriarch to ordain and enthrone a metropolitan and other bishops of the
Church over which he presides who are appointed by the Roman Pontiff outside the
territorial boundaries of the same Church unless in a special case it is expressly
stipulated otherwise. 3. Episcopal ordination and enthronement must take place
within the term stipulated by law; the patriarchal letter of canonical provision
is to be given within ten days of the proclamation of the election. The Apostolic
See is to be notified as soon as possible of the episcopal ordination and enthronement.
Canon 87 As long as provision is made for their support, the patriarch can
see to it that some bishops, though not more than three, are elected for the patriarchial
curia by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church according to the norms
of cann. 181, 1 and 182-187. He confers on them the office with residency in the
patriarchal curia; he can also ordain them after having fulfilled all the requirements
for the episcopal proclamation.
Canon 88 1. Bishops of the patriarchal Church must show honor and obsequium
to the patriarch and must render due obedience to him; the patriarch shall show
to these bishops due reverence and treat them with brotherly charity. 2. The patriarch
is to see that controversies which perhaps might arise among the bishops are resolved
with due regard for the right of deferring them to the Roman Pontiff at any time.
Canon 89 1. It is the right and obligation of the patriarch to exercise vigilance
according to the norm of law over all clerics; if it appears that one of them
merits punishment, he is to warn the hierarch to whom the cleric is immediately
subject and, if the warning is in vain, he himself is to take action against the
cleric according to the norm of law. 2. The patriarch can commit a function of
conducting affairs which regard the entire patriarchal Church to any cleric, after
having consulted with the eparchial bishop or, in the case of a member of a religious
institute or a society of the common life in the manner of religious, the major
superior, unless particular law of the patriarchal Church requires the consent
of the same; he can also subject the cleric immediately to himself while exercising
this function. 3. The patriarch can confer a dignity in his own patriarchal Church
on any cleric with due regard for can. 430, provided that he receives the written
consent of the eparchial bishop to whom the cleric is subject or, in the case
of a religious institute or a society of the common life in the manner of religious,
the major superior.
Canon 90 For a serious reason, after having consulted with the eparchial bishop
and with the consent of the permanent synod, in the act of establishment itself,
the patriarch can exempt from the power of the eparchial bishop and subject immediately
to himself a place or juridic person which does not belong to a religious institute
in matters regarding the administration of temporal goods and also persons attached
to the same place or juridic person in all matters regarding their function or
office.
Canon 91 The patriarch must be commemorated in the Divine Liturgy and in the divine
praises after the Roman Pontiff by all the bishops and other clerics according
to the prescriptions of the liturgical books.
Canon 92 1. The patriarch is to manifest hierarchical communion with the Roman
Pontiff, successor of Saint Peter, through the loyalty, veneration and obedience
which are due to the supreme pastor of the entire Church. 2. The patriarch must
make a commemoration of the Roman Pontiff as a sign of full communion with him
in the Divine Liturgy and divine praises according to the prescriptions of the
liturgical books and to see that it is done faithfully by all the bishops and
other clerics of the Church over which he presides. 3. It is to be the custom
for the patriarch to visit the Roman Pontiff and, according to the norms established
especially for this, to send to him a report concerning the state of the Church
over which he presides. Within a year of his election and then often during his
tenure in office, he is to make a visit to Rome to venerate the tombs of apostles
Peter and Paul and present himself to the successor of Saint Peter in primacy
over the entire Church.
Canon 93 The patriarch is to reside in his see and is not to be absent from
it except for a canonical reason.
Canon 94 The patriarch must celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the people of the
entire Church over which he presides on feast days established by particular law.
Canon 95 1. The obligations of eparchial bishops which are mentioned in can.
196 also bind the patriarch with due regard for the other obligations of individual
bishops. 2. The patriarch is to see that the eparchial bishops faithfully fulfill
their pastoral functions and that they reside in the eparchy which they govern;
he should enkindle their zeal; if they gravely transgress in a certain matter,
after having consulted with the permanent synod unless there is danger in delay,
the patriarch is to warn them; if the warning does not result in the desired effect,
he is to defer the matter to the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 96 With regard to prayers and pious exercises, provided that they are consonant
with his own rite, the patriarch can do the same as the local hierarch in the
entire Church over which he presides.
Canon 97 The patriarch must diligently exercise vigilance over the proper administration
of all ecclesiastical property, with due regard for the primary obligation of
the individual eparchial bishops as mentioned in can. 1022, 1.
Canon 98 With the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
and the prior assent of the Roman Pontiff, the patriarch can enter into agreements
with a civil authority which are not contrary to the law established by the Apostolic
See; the patriarch cannot put these same agreements into effect without having
obtained the approval of the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 99 1. The patriarch is to see that the personal Statutes in force in
the region are observed by everyone. 2. If several patriarchs in the same place
exercise power recognized or conceded by the personal Statutes, it is expedient
in matters of greater importance that they act after consultation with each other.
Canon 100 The patriarch can reserve to himself matters which concern several
eparchies and affect the civil authorities; he cannot make a decision regarding
these same matters without consulting the eparchial bishops to whom it is of concern
and without the consent of the permanent synod. If the matter is urgent and does
not permit the convening of the episcopal members of the permanent synod, then
the bishops of the patriarchal curia, if there are any, otherwise, the two eparchial
bishops who are senior according to episcopal ordination, will act in their place
in the case.
Canon 101 In his own eparchy, in stauropegial monasteries and other places
where neither an eparchy nor an exarchy is established, the patriarch has the
same rights and obligations as an eparchial bishop.
Canon 102 1. All and solely ordained bishops of the patriarchal Church wherever
they are constituted, excluding those mentioned in can. 953, 1 or those who are
punished by canonical penalties mentioned in cann. 1433 and 1434, must be called
to the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church. 2. With regard to eparchial
bishops constituted outside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church
and titular bishops, particular law can restrict their deliberative vote, with
due regard for the canons concerning the election of the patriarch, bishops and
candidates for office mentioned in can. 149. 3. To expedite certain matters, according
to the norm of particular law or with the consent of the permanent synod, others
can be invited by the patriarch, especially hierarchs who are not bishops and
experts to give their opinions to the bishops gathered in the synod with due regard
for can. 66, 2.
Canon 103 The patriarch is to convoke the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church and to preside over it.
Canon 104 1. All bishops legitimately called to the synod of bishops of the
patriarchal Church are bound by the serious obligation to attend that same synod
except those who have already resigned from office. 2. If a certain bishop considers
himself to be detained by a just impediment, he is to submit his reasons in writing
to the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church. The bishops who are present
in the designated place at the first session of the synod are to decide upon the
legitimacy of the impediment.
Canon 105 No member of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church can send
a proxy in his place nor can anyone have several votes in the synod.
Canon 106 1. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church must be convoked
whenever: (1) matters are to be decided which belong to the exclusive competence
of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church or which, in order to be done,
require the consent of the synod; (2) the patriarch, with the consent of the permanent
synod, judges it necessary; (3) at least one-third of the members request it for
a given matter, with due regard always for the rights of patriarchs, bishops and
other persons established by common law. 2. Moreover the synod of bishops of the
patriarchal Church must be convoked at the established times, even annually, if
particular law determines it.
Canon 107 1. Unless particular law requires more and with due regard for cann.
69, 149 and 183, 1, any session of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
is canonical and any individual balloting is valid if the majority of the bishops
who are obliged to attend the same synod is present. 2. With due regard for cann.
72, 149 and 183, 3-4, the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is free to
establish norms to determine how many votes and ballots are required for the synodal
decisions to acquire the force of law; otherwise, can. 924 must be observed.
Canon 108 1. The patriarch is to open the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church and also, with the consent of the same synod, to transfer, postpone, suspend
and dissolve it. 2. After hearing the members of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church, the patriarch is also to prepare the agenda to be observed in examining
questions as well as to submit it for approval at the opening session of the synod.
3. During the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, individual bishops can
add other questions to those on the agenda if at least one-third of the members
present at the synod consent.
Canon 109 After the opening of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church,
none of the bishops is permitted to depart from the sessions of the synod unless
it is for a just reason approved by the synod.
Canon 110 1. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is exclusively
competent to make laws for the entire patriarchal Church which obtain force according
to the norm of can. 150, 2 and 3. 2. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
is the tribunal in the patriarchal Church according to the norm of can. 1062.
3. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church conducts the election of the
patriarch, bishops and candidates for offices mentioned in can. 149. 4. The synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church is not competent for administrative actions
unless the patriarch determines otherwise for certain actions or common law reserves
some actions to the synod, with due regard for the
Canons which require the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church.
Canon 111 1. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church designates the
manner and time of promulgation of laws and the publication of decisions. 2. The
observance of secrecy regarding acts or cases treated is to be decided upon by
the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, with due regard for the obligation
of observing secrecy in matters established by common law. 3. Acts regarding laws
and decisions are to be sent to the Roman Pontiff as soon as possible; certain
acts or even all of them should be communicated to the patriarchs of the other
Eastern Churches according to the judgment of the synod.
Canon 112 1. The promulgation of laws and the publication of decisions of the
synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is the competence of the patriarch.
2. Until the forthcoming synod, the authentic interpretation of laws of the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church is the competence of the patriarch, having
consulted with the permanent synod.
Canon 113 The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is to draw up its
statutes in which are provided a secretary of the synod, preparatory commissions,
the order of procedure as well as other means which they consider effective for
the attainment of its goals.
Canon 114 1. Distinct from the curia of the eparchy of the patriarch, the patriarch
must have at his see a patriarchal curia which is comprised of the permanent synod,
the bishops of the patriarchal curia, the ordinary tribunal of the patriarchal
Church, the patriarchal finance officer, the patriarchal chancellor, the liturgical
commission as well as other commissions which by law are attached to the patriarchal
curia. 2. Persons belonging to the patriarchal curia can be selected by the patriarch
from the clergy of the entire Church over which he presides, having consulted
their eparchial bishop or, if it is a case of a member of a religious institute
or society of the common life in the manner of religious, their major superior.
3. The offices of either curia of the patriarch, inasmuch as it is possible, are
not to be conferred upon the same persons.
Canon 115 1. The permanent synod is comprised of the patriarch and four bishops
designated for a five-year term. 2. Of these bishops, three are elected by the
synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church among whom as least two must be eparchial
bishops; one is appointed by the patriarch. 3. At the same time and in the same
manner, four bishops are designated, insofar as it is possible, who, according
to the order determined by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, substitute
alternately for the impeded members of the permanent synod.
Canon 116 1. The patriarch is to convoke the permanent synod and to preside
over it. 2. If the patriarch is impeded or does not attend the permanent synod,
the senior member of the synod according to episcopal ordination presides, after
the number of members has been restored to five according to the norm of can.
115, 3. 3. If the permanent synod must decide a matter which affects the person
of a certain bishop who is a member of the same synod or affects his eparchy or
office, he is to be heard, but in the synod another bishop substitutes for him
according to the norm of can. 115, 3.
Canon 117 The president and all other members of the synod who were present
at the synod must sign the acts of the synod.
Canon 118 Voting in the permanent synod must be secret in matters relating
to persons; in other cases, if at least one of the members expressly requests
it.
Canon 119 If a certain matter belonging to the competence of the permanent
synod is to be decided while the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is
being held, the decision on this matter is reserved to the permanent synod unless
the patriarch with the consent of the permanent synod judges it opportune to commit
the decision to the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church.
Canon 120 The permanent synod must be convoked at determined times, at least
twice a year, and whenever the patriarch considers it opportune, as well as whenever
matters are to be decided for which common law requires the consent or counsel
of the same synod.
Canon 121 If for a serious reason in the judgment of the synod of bishops of
the patriarchal Church, the permanent synod cannot be constituted, the Apostolic
See is to be notified and the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is to
elect two bishops, one of whom must be from the eparchial bishops, who with the
patriarch act in lieu of the permanent synod for as long as the reason continues.
Canon 122 1. For the administration of the goods of the patriarchal Church,
the patriarch, with the consent of the permanent synod, is to name a patriarchal
finance officer distinct from the finance officer of the eparchy of the patriarch.
The patriarchal finance officer should be a member of the Christian faithful who
is expert in economic matters and of outstanding honesty; for validity a person
is excluded who is related to the patriarch up to and including the fourth degree
of consanguinity or affinity. 2. The patriarchal finance officer is appointed
for a term determined by particular law; during the tenure he cannot be removed
by the patriarch without the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church or, if there is danger in delay, of the permanent synod. 3. The patriarchal
finance officer must submit a written report annually to the permanent synod on
administration during the past year as well as a budget of income and expenditures
for the coming year; a report on administration is also to be submitted whenever
it is requested by the permanent synod. 4. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church can require a report on administration as well as the budget of income
and expenditures from the patriarchal finance officer and subject it to its own
examination.
Canon 123 1. In the patriarchal curia there is to be appointed by the patriarch
a priest or deacon above all reproach, who as patriarchal chancellor presides
over the patriarchal chancery and the archives of the patriarchal curia, assisted,
if the case warrants it, by an assistant chancellor appointed by the patriarch.
2. Apart from the chancellor and the assistant chancellor, who are notaries ex
officio, the patriarch can appoint other notaries for the entire Church over which
he presides, for all of whom cann. 253-254 are to be applied; he can also freely
remove these notaries from office. 3. Concerning the archives of the patriarchal
curia, cann. 256-260 are to be observed.
Canon 124 The liturgical commission, which every patriarchal Church must have,
and other commissions prescribed for the Churches sui iuris, are erected by the
patriarch and are made up of persons appointed by the patriarch; they also are
governed by norms established by him, unless the law provides otherwise.
Canon 125 The expenses of the patriarchal curia are paid from the goods which
the patriarch can use for this purpose; if this is not sufficient, the individual
eparchies shall share in paying the expenses according to the measure to be determined
by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church.
Canon 126 1. The patriarchal see becomes vacant at the death or resignation
of the patriarch. 2. The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is competent
to accept the resignation of the patriarch, having consulted with the Roman Pontiff,
unless the patriarch approaches the Roman Pontiff directly.
Canon 127 Unless particular law determines otherwise, during a vacancy of the
patriarchal see, the administrator of the patriarchal Church is the senior bishop
according to episcopal ordination among the bishops of the patriarchal curia or,
if there are not any, among the bishops who are members of the permanent synod.
Canon 128 The administrator of the patriarchal Church is: (1) immediately to
inform the Roman Pontiff and all the bishops of the patriarchal Church of the
vacancy of the patriarchal see; (2) to carry out accurately and to see that others
carry out the special norms prescribed by common or particular law, or by an instruction
of the Roman Pontiff, if one is given, for the various circumstances which occur
during the vacancy of the patriarchal see; (3) to convoke the bishops to the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church for the election of a patriarch and to prepare
all other things necessary for the synod.
Canon 129 The administrator of the patriarchal Church in the eparchy of the
patriarch, in stauropegial monasteries and in those places where neither an eparchy
nor an exarchy is erected, has the same rights and obligations as the administrator
of a vacant eparchy.
Canon 130 1. The ordinary power of the patriarch in all matters excluding those
which cannot be done without the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church passes to the administrator of the patriarchal Church. 2. The administrator
of a patriarchal Church cannot remove from office the protosyncellus or the syncellus
of the eparchy of the patriarch nor innovate anything in the vacant patriarchal
see. 3. Even though he lacks the prerogatives of a patriarch, the administrator
of a patriarchal Church precedes all bishops of the same Church, not however in
the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church for the election of a patriarch.
Canon 131 The administrator of a patriarchal Church must account as soon as possible
for his administration to the new patriarch.
Canon 132 1. When a patriarchal see is impeded for whatever reason so that
the patriarch cannot communicate even by letter with the eparchial bishops of
the Church over which he presides, the governance of the patriarchal Church according
to the norms of can. 130 is in the control of the eparchial bishop inside the
territorial boundaries of the same Church who is the senior according to ordination,
who himself is not impeded, unless the patriarch designated another bishop or
in an extreme case of necessity even a priest. 2. A patriarch is impeded when
he cannot communicate even by letter with the Christian faithful of his own eparchy;
the governance of the same eparchy is the responsibility of the protosyncellus;
if he himself is impeded, it is the responsibility of the one whom the patriarch
designates or the one who governs the patriarchal Church in the interim. 3. Whoever
takes up the interim governance is to notify the Roman Pontiff as soon as possible
of the impeded patriarchal see and of his assumption of the governance.
Canon 133 1. A metropolitan, who presides over a certain province inside the
territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church, in the eparchies of his province,
among other things which are granted to him by common law, is: (1) to ordain and
enthrone bishops of his province within the time determined by law with due regard
for can. 86, 1, n. 2; (2) to convoke the metropolitan synod at the times established
by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church; to prepare useful questions
to be discussed in it, to preside at the synod, to transfer, postpone, suspend
or dissolve it; (3) to erect a metropolitan tribunal; (4) to oversee that the
faith and ecclesiastical discipline are accurately observed; (5) to conduct a
canonical visitation, if the eparchial bishop neglected it; (6) to appoint or
confirm one who was legitimately proposed for or elected to office, if the eparchial
bishop, not detained by a just impediment, failed to do so within the time established
by law, and also to appoint the eparchial financial officer if the eparchial bishop,
having been warned, neglected to appoint one. 2. The metropolitan represents the
province in all juridic matters of the same.
Canon 134 1. The dignity of a metropolitan is always attached to a determined
eparchial see. 2. A metropolitan in his own eparchy has the same rights and obligations
as an eparchial bishop.
Canon 135 The metropolitan is to be commemorated by all bishops and other clerics
in the Divine Liturgy and the divine praises according to the prescriptions of
the liturgical books.
Canon 136 A metropolitan who presides over a province precedes everywhere a
titular metropolitan.
Canon 137 The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is to define more
precisely the rights and obligations of metropolitans and of the metropolitan
synods according to the legitimate customs of its own patriarchal Church and also
the circumstances of time and place.
Canon 138 The rights and obligations of a metropolitan constituted outside
the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church are the same as those prescribed
in can. 133, 1, nn. 2-6 and 2 as well as in cann. 135, 136, 160, 1084, 3; concerning
other rights and obligations, the metropolitan is to observe the special norms
proposed by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church and approved by the
Apostolic See or established by the same See.
Canon 139 The eparchial bishop who exercises his power outside the territorial
boundaries of the patriarchal Church and does not belong to a province, should
designate a certain metropolitan, having consulted with the patriarch and with
the approval of the Apostolic See; to this metropolitan belong the rights and
obligations mentioned in can. 133, 1, nn. 3-6.
Canon 140 The patriarchal assembly is a consultative group of the entire Church
over which the patriarch presides and which assists the patriarch and the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church in dealing with matters of major importance
especially in order to harmonize appropriately the forms and programs of the apostolate
and ecclesiastical discipline with the current circumstances of the time, taking
into account the common good of its own Church as well as the common good of the
entire territory where several Churches sui iuris coexist.
Canon 141 The patriarchal assembly is to be convoked at least every five years
and whenever the patriarch with the consent of the permanent synod or the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church considers it useful.
Canon 142 1. The patriarch is to convoke the patriarchal assembly, preside
at it; and also to transfer, postpone, suspend and dissolve it; the patriarch
himself is to appoint a vice-president, who presides over the assembly in the
absence of the patriarch. 2. If the patriarchal see becomes vacant, the patriarchal
assembly is suspended by the law itself until the new patriarch issues a decree
on the matter.
Canon 143 1. To the patriarchal assembly are to be convoked: (1) eparchial
bishops and other local hierarchs; (2) titular bishops; (3) presidents of monastic
confederations, superiors general of institutes of consecrated life and superiors
of monasteries sui iuris; (4) rectors of Catholic universities and of ecclesiastical
universities as well as deans of faculties of theology and
Canon law, which are located inside the territorial boundaries of the Church
in which the assembly is held; (5) rectors of major seminaries; (6) from each
eparchy at least one presbyter enrolled in the same eparchy, especially a pastor,
one from among the religious or members of societies of common life according
to the manner of religious, as well as two lay persons, unless the statutes determine
a greater number, all of whom are designated in a manner determined by the eparchial
bishop and indeed, if it is a case of a member of a religious institute or a member
of a society of the common life according to the manner of religious, with the
consent of the competent superior. 2. All who are to be convoked to the patriarchal
assembly must attend it unless they are detained by a just impediment, of which
they are obliged to inform the patriarch; however, eparchial bishops can send
a proxy. 3. Persons of another Church sui iuris can be invited to the patriarchal
assembly and can take part in it according to the norm of the statutes. 4. To
the patriarchal assembly can also be invited some observers from other Churches
or non-Catholic ecclesial communities.
Canon 144 1. With due regard for the right of any Christian faithful to pose questions
to his hierarch, only the patriarch or the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church are to determine the matters to be discussed in the patriarchal assembly.
2. Through prior appropriate commissions and consultations, the patriarch is to
see that all of the questions are adequately drawn up and send to the members
of the assembly at an opportune time.
Canon 145 The patriarchal assembly is to have its statutes, in which are contained
the necessary norms for attaining the goals of the assembly, approved by the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church.
Canon 146 1. The territory of the Church over which the patriarch presides
is extended to those regions in which the rite proper to the same Church is observed
and the patriarch has the legitimately acquired right of erecting provinces, eparchies
as well as exarchies. 2. If a doubt concerning the territorial boundaries of the
patriarchal Church arises or if it is a case of the modification of boundaries,
the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is to investigate the matter, having
heard from the superior administrative authority of each Church sui iuris concerned,
and, having discussed the matter in the same synod, to direct an appropriately
prepared petition proposing the resolution of the doubt or the modification of
the boundaries to the Roman Pontiff, who solely can authentically resolve the
doubt or issue a decree modifying the boundaries.
Canon 147 Inside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church, the
power of the patriarch and the synods is exercised not only over all Christian
faithful who are enrolled in that Church, but also on others who do not have a
local hierarch of their own Church sui iuris constituted in the same territory
and, even if they remain enrolled in their own Church, are committed to the care
of local hierarchs of that patriarchal Church with due regard for can. 916, 5.
Canon 148 1. It is the right and the obligation of the patriarch to seek appropriate
information concerning the Christian faithful who reside outside the territorial
boundaries of the Church over which he presides even through a visitor sent by
himself with the consent of the Apostolic See. 2. The visitor, before he begins
his function, is to go to the eparchial bishop of those faithful and present his
letter of appointment. 3. After the visitation is completed, the visitor is to
send his report to the patriarch, who, after discussing the matter in the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church, can propose opportune means to the Apostolic
See, in order that everywhere in the world he might provide protection and an
increase of the spiritual good of the Christian faithful of the Church over which
he presides, even through the erection of their own parishes and exarchies or
eparchies.
Canon 149 The synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, fulfilling the norms
of the canons on the election of bishops, is to elect at least three candidates
for filling the office of eparchial bishop, coadjutor bishop or auxiliary bishop
outside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church and through the patriarch
propose them to the Roman Pontiff for appointment; secrecy is to be observed by
all who in any way know the results of the election, even toward the candidates.
Canon 150 1. Bishops constituted outside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal
Church have all the synodal rights and obligations of the other bishops of the
same Church with due regard for can. 102, 2. 2. Laws enacted by the synod of bishops
of the patriarchal Church and promulgated by the patriarch, if they are liturgical,
have the force of law everywhere in the world; if, however, they are disciplinary
laws or concern other decisions of the synod, they have the force of law inside
the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church. 3. Eparchial bishops constituted
outside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church, who desire to do
so, can attribute the force of law to disciplinary laws and other synodal decisions
in their own eparchies, provided they do not exceed their competence; if however
these laws or decisions are approved by the Apostolic See, they have the force
of law everywhere in the world.
TITLE 5 The Major Archiepiscopal Churches
Canon 151 A major archbishop is the metropolitan of a see determined or recognized
by the Supreme Authority of the Church, who presides over an entire Eastern Church
sui iuris not endowed with the patriarchal title.
Canon 152 What is stated in common law concerning patriarchal Churches or patriarchs
is understood to be applicable to major archiepiscopal Churches or major archbishops,
unless the common law expressly provides otherwise or it is evident from the nature
of the matter.
Canon 153 1. A major archbishop is elected according to the norm of cann. 63-74.
2. After acceptance of the election, the synod of bishops of the major archiepiscopal
Church must notify the Roman Pontiff through a synodal letter about the canonical
conduct of the election; however, the one who is elected, in a letter signed in
his own hand, must petition the confirmation of his election from the Roman Pontiff.
3. After having obtained the confirmation, the one who is elected, in the presence
of the synod of bishops of the major archiepiscopal Church, must make a profession
of faith and promise to carry out faithfully his office; afterwards his proclamation
and enthronement are to be performed. If, however, the one who is elected is not
yet an ordained bishop, the enthronement cannot validly be done before he receives
episcopal ordination. 4. If however the confirmation is denied, a new election
is to be conducted within the time established by the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 154 Major archbishops hold the precedence of honor immediately after patriarchs
according to the order in which the Church over which they preside was erected
as a major archiepiscopal Church.
TITLE 6 Metropolitan Churches and Other Churches Sui Iuris
Canon 155 1. A metropolitan Church sui iuris is presided over by a metropolitan
of a determined see who is appointed by the Roman Pontiff and assisted by a council
of hierarchs according to the norm of law. 2. It is solely the right of the supreme
authority of the Church to erect, modify, suppress and define the territorial
boundaries of metropolitan Churches sui iuris.
Canon 156 1. Within three months after episcopal ordination or, if already
ordained a bishop, after the enthronement, the metropolitan is bound by the obligation
to petition the pallium from the Roman Pontiff, which is a sign of his metropolitan
power and full communion of the metropolitan Church sui iuris with the Roman Pontiff.
2. Prior to the imposition of the pallium, the metropolitan cannot convoke the
council of hierarchs or ordain bishops.
Canon 157 1. The power which a metropolitan possesses according to the norm
of law over the bishops and other Christian faithful of the metropolitan Church
over which he presides, is ordinary and proper, but personal; thus, he cannot
constitute a vicar for the entire metropolitan Church sui iuris nor delegate his
power to a certain person for all cases. 2. The power of the metropolitan and
the council of hierarchs is validly exercised only within the territorial boundaries
of the metropolitan Church sui iuris. 3. The metropolitan represents the metropolitan
Church sui iuris in all its juridic affairs.
Canon 158 1. The see of the metropolitan Church sui iuris is to be in the principal
city from which the metropolitan, who presides over the same Church, takes his
title. 2. The metropolitan, in the eparchy entrusted to him, has the same rights
and obligations as an eparchial bishop.
Canon 159 In the metropolitan Church sui iuris over which he presides, beyond
those things which are attributed to him by common law or particular law established
by the Roman Pontiff, the metropolitan is competent: (1) to ordain and enthrone
bishops of the same Church within the time determined by law; (2) to convoke the
council of hierarchs according to the norm of law, to prepare useful questions
to be discussed in it, to preside, transfer, postpone, suspend or dissolve it;
(3) to erect a metropolitan tribunal; (4) to oversee that the faith and ecclesiastical
discipline are accurately observed; (5) to conduct canonical visitations in eparchies,
if the eparchial bishop neglected to do it; (6) to appoint an administrator of
an eparchy in the case mentioned in can. 221, n. 4; (7) to appoint or confirm
him who was legitimately proposed or elected to office, if the eparchial bishop,
not detained by a just impediment, omitted to do so within the time established
by law and also to appoint the eparchial finance officer if the eparchial bishop,
having been warned, neglected to appoint him; (8) to communicate the acts of the
Roman Pontiff to the eparchial bishops and others to whom they pertain, unless
the Apostolic See directly provides for it, and see to the faithful execution
of the prescriptions which are contained in these acts.
Canon 160 In extraordinary matters or those entailing special difficulty, the
eparchial bishops will not omit hearing the metropolitan nor will the metropolitan
omit consulting with the bishops.
Canon 161 The metropolitan is to be commemorated after the Roman Pontiff by
all the bishops and other clerics in the Divine Liturgy and in the divine praises,
according to the prescriptions of the liturgical books.
Canon 162 As a sign of full communion with him, the metropolitan must faithfully
make a commemoration of the Roman Pontiff, and see that it is done by all the
bishops and the other clergy of the Church over which he presides, in the Divine
Liturgy and the divine praises, according to the prescriptions of the liturgical
books.
Canon 163 It should be the custom for the metropolitan to visit the Roman Pontiff
frequently; he must make this visit every five years according to the norm of
can. 208, 2, inasmuch as it is possible, he should do it together with all the
bishops of the metropolitan Church over which he presides.
Canon 164 1. To the council of hierarchs must be called all and only ordained
bishops of the metropolitan Church sui iuris wherever they are constituted, excluding
those mentioned in can. 953, 1 or those who are punished with the canonical penalties
mentioned in cann. 1433 and 1434. Bishops of another Church sui iuris can be invited
as guests only if it is acceptable to the majority of the members of the council
of hierarchs. 2. Eparchial bishops and coadjutor bishops have a deliberative vote
in the council of hierarchs; other bishops of the metropolitan Church sui iuris
can have this vote if this is expressly established in particular law.
Canon 165 1. All bishops lawfully called to the council of hierarchs are bound
by the serious obligation to be present at the council, except those who have
already resigned from office. 2. If a certain bishop considers himself to be detained
by a legitimate impediment, he is to submit his reasons in writing to the council
of hierarchs; the bishops who have a deliberative vote and who are present in
the designated location at the opening session of the council are to decide on
the legitimacy of the impediment. 3. No one of the members from the council of
hierarchs can send a proxy, nor can anyone have several votes. 4. After the opening
of the council of hierarchs, none of those who must be present can leave unless
for a just reason approved by the president of the council.
Canon 166 1. Unless particular law requires a greater attendance, any session
of the council of hierarchs is canonical and any individual ballot is valid if
a majority of the bishops who are obliged to be present, are present. 2. The council
of hierarchs decides matters by an absolute majority of those who have a deliberative
vote and who are present.
Canon 167 1. With due regard for the canons which expressly treat the power of
the council of hierarchs in making laws and norms, this council can also legislate
in those cases in which common law remits the matter to the particular law of
a Church sui iuris. 2. The metropolitan will notify the Apostolic See as soon
as possible of the laws and norms enacted by the council of hierarchs; nor can
laws and norms be validly promulgated before the metropolitan has written notification
from the Apostolic See of the reception of the acts of the council; the metropolitan
is also to notify the Apostolic See of other actions of the council of hierarchs.
3. The metropolitan is to see to the promulgation of laws and the publication
of decisions of the council of hierarchs. 4. With due regard for the canons which
expressly mention the administrative acts of the metropolitan, he who presides
over a metropolitan Church sui iuris also has the right to perform administrative
acts which by common law are committed to the superior administrative authority
of a Church sui iuris, however, with the consent of the council of hierarchs.
Canon 168 With regard to the appointment of the metropolitan and bishops, for
each case the council of hierarchs is to compose a list of at least three of the
more suitable candidates and send the list to the Apostolic See, observing secrecy
even toward the candidates; in order to compile the list, the members of the council
of hierarchs, if they judge it to be expedient, can seek the opinion of certain
presbyters or other Christian faithful outstanding in wisdom concerning the needs
of the Church and the special talents of a person required for the episcopate.
Canon 169 The council of hierarchs is to see that the pastoral needs of the
Christian faithful are provided for, and, concerning these needs, can establish
what is considered to be opportune to provide for an increase of the faith, the
fostering of common pastoral action, the supervision of morals and the observation
of their own rite as well as common ecclesiastical discipline.
Canon 170 The council of hierarchs is to be held at least once a year and whenever
special circumstances require it or matters of common law which are reserved to
this council or which require the consent of this council need to be settled.
Canon 171 The council of hierarchs is to draw up its statutes, transmitting
them to the Apostolic See, in which are provided a secretary for the council,
preparatory commissions, the order of procedure as well as other means which they
consider effective for the attainment of its goals.
Canon 172 In a metropolitan Church sui iuris an assembly is to be held according
to the norm of cann. 140-145 and is to be convoked at least every five years;
the metropolitan is competent to do whatever is said there about the patriarch.
Canon 173 1. During the vacancy of the metropolitan see in an metropolitan
Church sui iuris: (1) the administrator of the metropolitan Church sui iuris is
the eparchial bishop of the same Church senior according to episcopal ordination,
who as soon as possible notifies the Roman Pontiff of the vacancy of the metropolitan
see; (2) to the administrator of a metropolitan Church sui iuris passes the ordinary
power of the metropolitan in all matters excluding those which cannot be done
without the consent of the council of hierarchs; (3) in a vacant metropolitan
see there are to be no innovations. 2. In an impeded metropolitan see of these
Churches those things are to be observed which are established for an impeded
patriarchal see in can. 132, 1; the metropolitan is competent to do whatever is
said there about the patriarch. 3. Concerning the vacant or impeded see of the
eparchy of the metropolitan cann. 221-233 are to be observed.
Canon 174 A Church sui iuris, which is neither patriarchal, major archiepiscopal
nor metropolitan is entrusted to a hierarch who presides over it according to
the norm of common law and particular law established by the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 175 These Churches immediately depend on the Apostolic See; however,
the hierarch exercises the rights and obligations mentioned in can. 159, nn. 3-8,
as a delegate of the Apostolic See.
Canon 176 If common law remits something to particular law or to the superior
administrative authority of a Church sui iuris, the competent authority in these
Churches is the hierarch who presides over it according to the norm of law with
the consent of the Apostolic See, unless it is expressly stated otherwise. TITLE
7 Eparchies and Bishops
Canon 177 1. An eparchy is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted
for pastoral care to a bishop with the cooperation of the presbyterate so that,
adhering to its pastor and gathered by him in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel
and the Eucharist, it constitutes a particular Church in which the one, holy,
catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative. 2. In
the erection, modification, and suppression of eparchies within the territorial
boundaries of a patriarchal Church, can. 85, 1 is to be observed; in other cases
the erection, modification and suppression of eparchies is solely within the competence
of the Apostolic See.
Canon 178 The eparchial bishop, as a vicar and legate of Christ, governs in
his own name the eparchy entrusted to him for shepherding. This power, which he
exercises personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate,
although its exercise is ultimately regulated by the Supreme Authority of the
Church and can be defined with certain limits should the usefulness of the Church
or the Christian faithful require it.
Canon 179 Bishops to whom an eparchy has not been entrusted for governing in
their own name, whatever other function in the Church they exercise or exercised,
are called titular bishops.
Canon 180 In order for a person to be considered suitable for the episcopate,
it is required that he: (1) demonstrate solid faith, good morals, piety, zeal
for souls and prudence; (2) enjoy a good reputation; (3) not be bound by a matrimonial
bond; (4) be at least thirty-five years old; (5) ordained a presbyter for at least
five years; (6) possess a doctorate or licentiate in some sacred science or at
least be an expert in it.
Canon 181 1. Bishops inside the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church
are nominated to a vacant see or to fulfill another function by canonical election
according to the norms of cann. 947-957, unless otherwise provided in common law.
2. Other bishops are appointed by the Roman Pontiff without prejudice to cann.
149 and 168.
Canon 182 1. Candidates suitable for the episcopate can be proposed only by
members of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church who can, according to
the norm of particular law, collect information and documents which are necessary
to establish the suitability of the candidates, hearing, if they think it appropriate,
secretly and individually, certain presbyters or also other Christian faithful
outstanding in prudence and Christian life. 2. The bishops are to report their
findings to the patriarch at a suitable time prior to the convocation of the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church. The patriarch, if the case warrants it,
adding his own additional information, transmits the matter to all the members
of the synod. 3. Unless particular law approved by the Roman Pontiff states otherwise,
the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church is to examine the names of the
candidates and compile a list of the candidates by secret ballot, which is to
be transmitted through the patriarch to the Apostolic See to obtain the assent
of the Roman Pontiff. 4. The assent of the Roman Pontiff once given for an individual
candidate is valid until it has been explicitly revoked, in which case the name
of the candidate is to be removed from the list.
Canon 183 1. The convocation having been canonically made, if two-thirds of the
bishops who are obliged to attend the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
are present in the designated place, not counting those who are legitimately impeded,
the synod is to be declared canonical and the election can proceed. 2. The bishops
are freely to elect the one whom before all others they consider worthy and suitable
before the Lord. 3. For election an absolute majority of the votes of those present
is required; after three inconclusive ballots, the votes are cast in the fourth
ballot for only those two candidates who received the greatest number of votes
in the third ballot. 4. If in the third or fourth ballots, because of a tied vote,
it is not established who the candidates are for the new ballot or who has been
elected, the tie is decided in favor of him who is senior according to presbyteral
ordination. If no one precedes the others in presbyteral ordination, the one who
is senior in age.
Canon 184 1. If the one elected is on the list of candidates which the Roman
Pontiff has already approved, he is to be informed secretly of the results of
the election by the patriarch. 2. If the one elected accepts the election, the
patriarch is to notify the Apostolic See immediately of the acceptance of the
election and the day of proclamation.
Canon 185 1. If the one elected is not on the list of candidates, the patriarch
is immediately to notify the Apostolic See of the completed election in order
to obtain the approval of the Roman Pontiff, secrecy being observed by all who
in any way know the results of the election, even toward the one elected, until
notification of the assent has reached the patriarch. 2. After obtaining the approval
of the Roman Pontiff, the patriarch secretly is to inform the one elected of the
election and acts according to the norms of can. 184, 2.
Canon 186 1. If the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church cannot be convened,
the patriarch, after consulting the Apostolic See, can request the vote of the
bishops by letter. In this case, the patriarch must employ for the validity of
the act the services of two episcopal tellers, who are to be designated according
to the norm of particular law, or, lacking this, by the patriarch with the consent
of the permanent synod. 2. Observing secrecy, the tellers are to open the letters
of the bishops, count the votes and sign the written report of the completed ballot
along with the patriarch. 3. If one of the candidates obtains an absolute majority
of the votes of the members of the synod in this one ballot, he is elected and
the patriarch proceeds according to the norms of cann. 184 and 185. Otherwise
the patriarch defers the matter to the Apostolic See.
Canon 187 1. Canonical provision is necessary for anyone to be promoted to
the episcopate, by which the person is constituted the eparchial bishop of a determined
eparchy or by which another determined function in the Church is committed to
him. 2. Prior to episcopal ordination the candidate is to make a profession of
faith and a promise of obedience to the Roman Pontiff and, in patriarchal Churches,
also a promise of obedience to the patriarch in those matters in which he is subject
to the patriarch according to the norm of law.
Canon 188 1. Unless prevented by a legitimate impediment, one promoted to the
episcopate must receive episcopal ordination within three months from the day
of proclamation if it is a case of election, or from the reception of the apostolic
letter if it is a case of appointment. 2. The eparchial bishop must take canonical
possession of the eparchy within four months from the day of episcopal election
or appointment.
Canon 189 1. The eparchial bishop takes canonical possession of the eparchy
by the enthronement itself, legitimately carried out, in which the apostolic or
patriarchal letter of canonical provision is publicly read. 2. Upon completion
of the enthronement, a document is to be drawn up and signed by the eparchial
bishop along with the chancellor of the curia and at least two witnesses and kept
in the archives of the eparchial curia. 3. Before the enthronement the bishop
may not involve himself in the governance of the eparchy either personally, through
others, or in virtue of any title. But if he had some office in the vacant eparchy
he can retain and exercise it.
Canon 190 The eparchial bishop represents the eparchy in all its juridic affairs.
Canon 191 1. The eparchial bishop governs the eparchy entrusted to him with
legislative, executive and judicial power. 2. The eparchial bishop personally
exercises legislative power; he exercises executive power either personally or
through a protosyncellus or syncellus; he exercises judicial power either personally
or through a judicial vicar and judges.
Canon 192 1. In the exercise of his pastoral function, the eparchial bishop
is to show that he is concerned for all the Christian faithful who are committed
to his care, regardless of age, condition, nation or Church sui iuris, both those
who live within the territory of his eparchy and those who are staying in it temporarily;
he is to extend his apostolic spirit also to those who cannot sufficiently make
use of ordinarily pastoral care due to their condition in life as well as to those
who no longer practice their religion. 2. In a special way the eparchial bishop
is to see that all Christian faithful committed to his care foster unity among
Christians according to principles approved by the Church. 3. The eparchial bishop
is to consider the non-baptized as being committed to him in the Lord and see
that the love of Christ shines upon them from the witness of the Christian faithful
living in ecclesiastical communion. 4. The eparchial bishop is to attend to presbyters
with special concern and listen to them as assistants and advisers; he is to protect
their rights and see to it that they correctly fulfill the obligations proper
to their state and that means and institutions which they need are available to
them to foster their spiritual and intellectual life. 5. The eparchial bishop
is to see that the families of his clerics, if they are married, be provided with
adequate support, appropriate protection and social security in addition to health
insurance according to the norm of law.
Canon 193 1. The eparchial bishop to whom the care of Christian faithful of
another Church sui iuris are committed is bound by the serious obligation of providing
all the things in order that these Christian faithful retain the rite of their
own Church, cultivate and observe it as much as they can; he should foster relations
with the higher authority of that Church. 2. The eparchial bishop is to provide
for the spiritual needs of those Christian faithful, if it is possible, through
presbyters or pastors of the same Church sui iuris as the Christian faithful or
even through a syncellus constituted for the care of these Christian faithful.
3. Eparchial bishops, who appoint such presbyters, pastors or syncelli for the
care of Christian faithful of patriarchal Churches, are to formulate plans of
action with the patriarchs who are concerned in the matter and, if they are in
agreement, act by their own authority and notify the Apostolic See as soon as
possible; if the patriarchs, for any reason whatever, disagree, the matter is
to be referred to the Apostolic See.
Canon 194 The eparchial bishop can confer dignities upon clerics subject to
them, others excluded, according to the norm of the particular law of their own
Church sui iuris.
Canon 195 As much as possible, the eparchial bishop is to foster priestly,
diaconal and monastic vocations, vocations to institutes of consecrated life and
to the missions.
Canon 196 1. The eparchial bishop is bound to present and explain to the Christian
faithful the truths of the faith, which are to be believed and applied to moral
issues by frequently preaching in person. He is also to take care that the prescriptions
of the law concerning the ministry of the word of God be carefully observed, especially
those about the homily and catechetical formation, so that the whole of Christian
doctrine is handed on to all. 2. He is to protect firmly the integrity and unity
of the faith.
Canon 197 The eparchial bishop, while mindful of the obligation binding him
to manifest an example of holiness in charity, humility and simplicity of life,
is to make every effort to promote the holiness of the Christian faithful according
to the vocation of each; since he is the principal dispenser of the mysteries
of God, he is to endeavor to have the Christian faithful committed to his care
grow in grace through the celebration of the sacraments and especially by participation
in the Divine Eucharist and especially to know and live deeply the paschal mystery
so that they become one Body in the unity of the love of Christ.
Canon 198 The eparchial bishop is to celebrate the Divine Liturgy frequently
for the people of the eparchy entrusted to him; he must celebrate on the days
prescribed by the particular law of his own Church sui iuris.
Canon 199 1. The eparchial bishop, as the moderator, promoter and guardian
of the entire liturgical life in the eparchy committed to him, must be vigilant
that it be fostered as much as possible and ordered according to the prescriptions
and legitimate customs of his own Church sui iuris. 2. The eparchial bishop is
to see to it that in his own cathedral at least part of the divine praises are
celebrated, even daily, according to the lawful customs of his own Church sui
iuris; also, in any parish if possible, the divine praises are to be celebrated
on Sundays, feast days, principal solemnities and their vigils. 3. The eparchial
bishop is to preside frequently at the divine praises in the cathedral or other
church, especially on holy days of obligation, and on other solemnities in which
a sizeable part of the people participate.
Canon 200 The eparchial bishop can celebrate sacred functions in the entire
eparchy, which are to be solemnly carried out by himself according to the prescriptions
of the liturgical books and vested in all of the pontifical insignia, but not
outside the boundaries of his own eparchy without the express or at least reasonably
presumed consent of the eparchial bishop.
Canon 201 1. Since he is obliged to safeguard the unity of the entire Church,
the eparchial bishop is to promote the common discipline of the Church as well
as to urge the observance of all ecclesiastical laws and legitimate customs. 2.
The eparchial bishop is to be vigilant lest abuses creep into ecclesiastical discipline,
especially concerning the ministry of the word of God, the celebration of the
sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and the saints and the execution
out of pious wills.
Canon 202 The eparchial bishops of several Churches sui iuris exercising authority
in the same territory are to see that, gathered for consultation in periodic meetings,
they foster unity of action and through combined efforts assist in common works
for the effective promotion of the good of religion and the effective protection
of ecclesiastical discipline.
Canon 203 1. The eparchial bishop is to foster various forms of the apostolate
in the eparchy and see to it that all of the works of the apostolate in the entire
eparchy or in particular districts are coordinated under his direction, each one
according to its own character. 2. The eparchial bishop is to urge the obligation
by which the faithful are bound to exercise the apostolate according to each one's
condition and ability, and to exhort them to participate and help in the various
works of the lay apostolate according to the needs of place and time. 3. The eparchial
bishop is to promote associations of the Christian faithful which pursue a spiritual
purpose directly or indirectly; establishing, approving or commending them where
expedient according to the norm of the law.
Canon 204 1. The eparchial bishop, even if he has a coadjutor or auxiliary
bishop, is bound by the obligation of residing in his own eparchy. 2. In addition
to those obligations which require a legitimate absence from his own eparchy,
the bishop can be absent for a just cause for not more than one continual or interrupted
month, so long as the precaution is taken that the eparchy not suffer harm from
his absence. 3. The eparchial bishop, except for some grave cause, must not be
absent from his eparchy on days of special solemnity established by particular
law according to the tradition of his own Church sui iuris. 4. If an eparchial
bishop exercising his authority within the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal
Church has been unlawfully absent beyond six months from the eparchy entrusted
to him, the patriarch is immediately to defer the matter to the Roman Pontiff.
In other cases this is to be done by the metropolitan or, if the metropolitan
himself has been unlawfully absent, by the eparchial bishop senior in episcopal
ordination and subject to that same metropolitan.
Canon 205 1. The eparchial bishop is bound by the obligation of canonically
visiting the eparchy either entirely or in part every year so that at least every
five years he himself or, if legitimately impeded, the coadjutor bishop, the auxiliary
bishop, the proto-syncellus or syncellus, or some other presbyter, should canonically
visit the entire eparchy. 2. Persons, Catholic institutions, sacred things and
places within the boundaries of the eparchy are subject to the canonical visitation
of the eparchial bishop. 3. The eparchial bishop can visit members of religious
institutes as well as those of societies of common life in the manner of the religious
who are of pontifical or patriarchal right and their houses only in the cases
expressed in law.
Canon 206 1. The eparchial bishop exercising his authority in the territorial
boundaries of a patriarchal Church is obliged to make a report every five years
to the patriarch about the status of the eparchy committed to him, according to
the manner set up by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church. The bishop
is to submit a copy of the report to the Apostolic See as soon as possible. 2.
Other eparchial bishops must make the same report to the Apostolic See every five
years, and, if it is a case of bishops of a patriarchal Church or metropolitan
Church sui iuris, they are to send a copy of the report to the patriarch or metropolitan
as soon as possible.
Canon 207 An eparchial bishop of any Church sui iuris, even of the Latin Church,
is to inform the Apostolic See on the occasion of the quinquennial report, about
the status and needs of the Christian faithful who, even if they are enrolled
in another Church sui iuris, are committed to his care.
Canon 208 1. An eparchial bishop exercising authority within the territorial
boundaries of a patriarchal Church, within five years of his enthronement, is
to make a visit to Rome along with the patriarch, insofar as this can be done,
so that he may venerate the tombs of blessed apostles Peter and Paul and appear
before the successor of Saint Peter in the primacy over the entire Church. 2.
Other eparchial bishops are to make the visitation to Rome personally every five
years or, if legitimately impeded, through another; if it is a case of bishops
of a patriarchal Church, it is desirable that at least some time it be done with
the patriarch.
Canon 209 1. The eparchial bishop must commemorate the Roman Pontiff before
all as a sign of full communion with him in the Divine Liturgy and the divine
praises according to the prescriptions of the liturgical books and to see to it
that it be faithfully done by the other clergy of the eparchy. 2. The eparchial
bishop must be commemorated by all the clergy in the Divine Liturgy and the divine
praises according to the prescriptions of the liturgical books.
Canon 210 1. An eparchial bishop who has completed his seventy-fifth year of
age or who, due to ill health or to another serious reason, has become less able
to fulfill his office, is requested to present his resignation from office. 2.
This resignation from office by the eparchial bishop is to be submitted to the
patriarch if it is the case of an eparchial bishop exercising authority inside
the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church; in other cases, it is submitted
to the Roman Pontiff; further, if the bishop belongs to a patriarchal Church,
the patriarch is to be notified as soon as possible. 3. To accept this resignation
the patriarch needs the consent of the permanent synod, unless a request for resignation
was made previously by the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church.
Canon 211 1. An eparchial bishop, whose resignation from office was accepted,
obtains the title of eparchial bishop emeritus of the eparchy he governed and
can retain a residence in the eparchy itself unless in certain cases due to special
circumstances other provisions are made by the Apostolic See or, if it is an eparchy
inside the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church, by the patriarch with
the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church. 2. The synod of
bishops of the patriarch Church or council of hierarchs must see that suitable
and dignified support is provided for eparchial bishops emeriti, with due regard
for the primary obligation which rests upon the eparchy which he has served.
Canon 212 1. If the pastoral needs of the eparchy warrant it, one or several
auxiliary bishops can be appointed upon the request of the eparchial bishop. 2.
In more serious circumstances, even of a personal nature, a coadjutor bishop can
be appointed ex officio with the right of succession and endowed with special
powers.
Canon 213 1. In addition to the rights and obligations which are established
in common law, a coadjutor bishop also has those which are defined in the letters
of canonical provision. 2. The patriarch himself, after having consulted the permanent
synod, determines the rights and obligations of a coadjutor bishop appointed by
the patriarch; but if it is the case of a coadjutor bishop who is to be granted
all the rights and obligations of an eparchial bishop, the consent of the synod
of bishops of the patriarchal Church is required. 3. The rights and obligations
of auxiliary bishops are those which are established by common law.
Canon 214 1. The coadjutor bishop and the auxiliary bishop, in order that they
may take canonical possession of their office, must show the letters of canonical
provision to the eparchial bishop. 2. Furthermore, a coadjutor bishop must show
these letters of canonical provision to the college of eparchial consultors. 3.
If the eparchial bishop is completely impeded, it is sufficient that the coadjutor
bishop and the auxiliary bishop show the letters of
Canonical provision to the college of eparchial consultors. 4. The chancellor
of the curia must be present at the presentation of the letters and is to officially
record the event.
Canon 215 1. A coadjutor bishop takes the place of the absent or impeded eparchial
bishop; he must be appointed protosyncellus; the eparchial bishop must commit
to him, before others, those things which by law require a special mandate. 2.
Without prejudice to the prescription of 1, the eparchial bishop is to appoint
the auxiliary bishop as protosyncellus. However, if there are several, he is to
appoint one of them protosyncellus and the others as syncelli. 3. The eparchial
bishop is to consult the auxiliary bishop before others in considering matters
of great importance, especially those of a pastoral nature. 4. The coadjutor bishop
and the auxiliary bishop, who are called to share in the concerns of the eparchial
bishop, are to exercise their office so that they act in unanimous agreement with
him in all matters.
Canon 216 1. The coadjutor bishop and the auxiliary bishop not detained by
a just impediment must, as often as requested by the eparchial bishop, carry out
the functions which the eparchial bishop himself would carry out. 2. The eparchial
bishop will not habitually commit to others those episcopal rights and functions
which the coadjutor bishop and the auxiliary bishop can and wish to exercise.
Canon 217 The coadjutor bishop and the auxiliary bishops are bound by the obligation
of residing in the eparchy from which they are not to depart except for a short
time unless they are fulfilling some function outside the eparchy or are on vacation,
which is not to be extended beyond a month.
Canon 218 The prescriptions of cann. 210 and 211, 2 regarding resignation from
office are applicable to a coadjutor bishop or auxiliary bishop. They are to be
given the title of emeriti of the office previously held.
Canon 219 The eparchial see becomes vacant at the death, resignation, transfer
or privation of office of the eparchial bishop.
Canon 220 With regard to a vacant see located inside the territorial boundaries
of a patriarchal Church, in addition to cann. 225-232 and without prejudice to
cann. 222 and 223, the following are to be observed: (1) the patriarch is to inform
the Apostolic See as soon as possible of the vacancy of the eparchial see; (2)
until the appointment of an administrator of the eparchy, the ordinary power of
the eparchial bishop transfers to the patriarch, unless otherwise provided by
the particular law of the patriarchal Church or by the Roman Pontiff; (3) the
patriarch is to appoint an administrator of the eparchy within a month of available
time from the reception of notice of the vacancy of the eparchial see, after consulting
the bishops of the patriarchal curia, if there are any, otherwise after consulting
the permanent synod. If the month elapses and this is not done, the appointment
of an administrator devolves to the Apostolic See; (4) the administrator of the
eparchy, after making the profession of faith in the presence of the patriarch
obtains authority, but is not to exercise it unless he has taken canonical possession
of the office by presenting the letters of his appointment to the college of eparchial
consultors; (5) the patriarch is to see that a worthy and suitable eparchial bishop
be assigned to the vacant eparchial see as soon as possible, but not beyond the
limits established by common law.
Canon 221 Except for the vacant eparchial sees mentioned in can. 220, in other
cases of a vacant eparchial see, the following are to be observed in addition
to cann. 225-232 and without prejudice to cann. 222 and 223: (1) the metropolitan,
or otherwise the one who, according to the norm of can. 271, 5, presides over
the college of eparchial consultors, is to inform the Apostolic See as soon as
possible of the vacancy of the see and, if it is an eparchy of a patriarchal Church,
the patriarch; (2) until the appointment of an administrator the governance of
the eparchy, unless otherwise provided by the Apostolic See, transfers to the
auxiliary bishop or, if there are several, to the one senior by episcopal ordination
or, if there is no auxiliary bishop, to the college of eparchial consultors. They
govern the eparchy with that authority which common law accords to a protosyncellus;
(3) the college of eparchial consultors must elect an administrator of the eparchy
according to the norm of the canons on elections within eight days from the reception
of the news of the vacancy of the eparchial see; for validity of the election,
an absolute majority of the votes of the members of this same college is required;
(4) if within eight days, the administrator of the eparchy has not been elected
or if the one elected lacks the conditions required in can. 227, 2 for the validity
of the election, the appointment of an administrator of the eparchy devolves to
the metropolitan or, if none exists or he is impeded, to the Apostolic See; (5)
the administrator of an eparchy legitimately elected or appointed immediately
obtains authority and does not need any confirmation. As soon as possible he is
to inform the Apostolic See of his election or of his appointment by the metropolitan
and, if he belongs to a patriarchal Church, also the patriarch.
Canon 222 The coadjutor bishop, provided that he has already taken canonical possession
of his office, upon the vacancy of the eparchial see becomes by the law itself,
the administrator of the eparchy until he has been enthroned as the eparchial
bishop.
Canon 223 In the case of a transfer to another eparchial see, the eparchial
bishop must take canonical possession of the new eparchy within two months from
the notification of the transfer. In the interim, in the former eparchy: (1) he
has the rights and obligations of the administrator of the eparchy; (2) he retains
the honorific privileges of eparchial bishops; (3) he continues to receive the
entire income of the previous office.
Canon 224 1. When the see becomes vacant, the protosyncellus and the syncelli
immediately cease from office unless they are: (1) ordained bishops; (2) constituted
in the eparchy of the patriarch; (3) constituted in an eparchy located inside
the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church, until the administrator of
the eparchy takes canonical possession of his office. 2. Those things legitimately
done by the protosyncellus and syncelli have full force until they have received
certain notice of the vacancy of the eparchial see; when the vacancy is certain,
they cease from office immediately. 3. When the eparchial see is vacant, the auxiliary
bishop retains the power which he enjoyed as protosyncellus or syncellus when
the see was occupied and which is conferred upon him by the law; this authority
is to be exercised under the authority of the administrator of the eparchy unless
otherwise determined by the Apostolic See or by the particular law of his own
patriarchal Church.
Canon 225 1. Only one person is to be elected or appointed administrator of the
eparchy and all contrary customs are reprobated. 2. If the eparchial finance officer
becomes the administrator of the eparchy another interim eparchial finance officer
is to be elected by the council for economic affairs.
Canon 226 In the process of constituting the administrator of an eparchy neither
the patriarch nor the college of eparchial consultors can retain any part of the
authority for themselves nor determine a time limit for holding the office or
establish any other restriction.
Canon 227 1. The administrator of an eparchy is to manifest integrity, piety,
sound doctrine and prudence. 2. Only a bishop or a presbyter who is not bound
by the bond of matrimony, who has completed thirty five years of age and who has
not already been elected, proposed, appointed or transferred to the same vacant
see can be validly elected or appointed to the office of administrator of the
eparchy. If these conditions have been neglected, the acts of the one elected
or appointed are null by the law itself.
Canon 228 1. When the see is vacant there are to be no innovations. 2. Those
who temporarily care for the governance of the eparchy are prohibited from doing
anything which could be prejudicial to the eparchy or episcopal rights. They themselves
and all other persons are specifically prohibited from removing, destroying or
altering any documents of the eparchial curia either personally or through another.
Canon 229 The administrator of the eparchy has the same rights and obligations
as the eparchial bishop, unless the law provides otherwise or it is evident from
the nature of the matter.
Canon 230 Unless otherwise lawfully provided: (1) the administrator of an eparchy
has the right to an appropriate remuneration to be established by particular law
or determined by lawful custom and which is to be taken from the goods of the
eparchy; (2) the other income accruing to the eparchial bishop during the time
when the eparchial see is vacant is reserved to the future eparchial bishop for
the needs of the eparchy, observing the prescriptions of the particular law which
define the manner in which the income must be spent.
Canon 231 1. The resignation of the administrator of an eparchy is to be made
to the patriarch if he designated the administrator, otherwise to the college
of eparchial consultors, in which case it is not necessary that it accept the
resignation for it to be valid. 2. The removal of an administrator of an eparchy
inside the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church is the competency of
the patriarch with the consent of the permanent synod, otherwise, it is reserved
to the Apostolic See. 3. After the death, resignation or removal of the administrator
of the eparchy, a new one is constituted by the same authority and in the same
manner as prescribed for the previous one. 4. The administrator of an eparchy
ceases to hold office when the new eparchial bishop takes
Canonical possession of the eparchy. The new eparchial bishop can require an
account of his administration.
Canon 232 1. When the eparchial see is vacant the eparchial finance officer
carries out his office under the authority of the administrator of the eparchy.
The administration of the ecclesiastical goods which on account of the vacancy
of the eparchial see do not have an administrator reverts to him, unless the patriarch
or college of eparchial consultors have provided otherwise. 2. For the resignation
or removal of the eparchial finance officer when the see is vacant, the norms
of can. 231, 1 and 2 are to be observed. 3. Inside the territorial boundaries
of the patriarchal Church, if the eparchial finance officer lost the right to
his office in any manner, the election or appointment of a new finance officer
is the competency of the patriarch after having consulted the bishops of the patriarchal
curia, if there are any, otherwise, having consulted the permanent synod. In other
cases the finance officer is elected by the college of eparchial consultors. 4.
The eparchial finance officer must give an account of his administration to the
new eparchial bishop, and, after he has given it, he ceases to hold office unless
he is confirmed in his office by the same bishop.
Canon 233 1. When the eparchial see is impeded by captivity, banishment, exile
or incapacity of the eparchial bishop, so that he is not able to communicate even
by letter to the Christian faithful committed to him, the governance of the eparchy
is the responsibility of the coadjutor bishop, unless otherwise provided by the
patriarch with consent of the permanent synod in eparchies located inside the
territorial boundaries of the Church over which he presides or by the Apostolic
See. If there is no coadjutor or if he is impeded, it is the responsibility of
the protosyncellus or syncellus or another suitable priest designated by the eparchial
bishop. By the law itself, the priest enjoys the rights and obligations of a protosyncellus.
At a suitable time the eparchial bishop can designate several who are to succeed
one another in office. 2. If there are none of the above or they are impeded from
assuming the governance of the eparchy, the college of eparchial consultors is
to elect a priest who is to govern the eparchy. 3. One who takes up the governance
of an eparchy within the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church is to
notify the patriarch as soon as possible about the impeded eparchial see and of
his assumption of office. In other cases he is to inform the Apostolic See and,
if he belongs to a patriarchal Church, the patriarch as well.
Canon 234 1. The governance of an eparchy, whether occupied or vacant, is sometimes
entrusted by the Roman Pontiff to an apostolic administrator due to serious and
special reasons. 2. The rights, obligations and privileges of the apostolic administrator
are determined by his letters of appointment.
Canon 235 The eparchial assembly assists the eparchial bishop in those things
which regard the special needs or advantage of the eparchy.
Canon 236 The eparchial assembly is convened as often as circumstances warrant
it in the judgment of the eparchial bishop after he has consulted the presbyteral
council.
Canon 237 1. It is the right of the eparchial bishop to convene the eparchial
assembly and to preside over it personally or through another, to transfer, postpone,
suspend, or dissolve it. 2. If the eparchial see becomes vacant, the eparchial
assembly is suspended by the law itself until the new eparchial bishop issues
a decree on the matter.
Canon 238 1. The following are to be summoned to the eparchial assembly and
must be present for it: (1) the coadjutor bishop and the auxiliary bishops; (2)
the protosyncellus, syncelli, judicial vicar and eparchial finance officer; (3)
the eparchial consultors; (4) the rector of the eparchial major seminary; (5)
the protopresbyters; (6) at least one pastor from each district, to be elected
by all of those who actually have the care of souls, the protopresbyter presiding
over the election; another presbyter is to be elected as an alternate to fill
in for him if he is impeded; (7) the members of the presbyteral council and some
delegates of the pastoral council, if it exists, elected by the same council in
the manner and number established by particular law; (8) some deacons elected
according to the norms of particular law; (9) superiors of monasteries sui iuris
and some superiors of other institutes of consecrated life which have houses in
the eparchy, to be elected in the manner and number established by particular
law; (10) lay people elected by the pastoral council, if it exists, or designated
in some other manner determined by the eparchial bishop so that the number of
lay people does not exceed one-third of the members of the eparchial assembly.
2. The eparchial bishop, if he judges it opportune, can invite to the eparchial
assembly others also, not excluding persons of other Churches sui iuris, to all
of whom he can even grant the right to vote. 3. Some observers from non-Catholic
Churches or ecclesial communities can also be invited to the eparchial assembly.
Canon 239 Those who must be present at the eparchial assembly, if detained by
a legitimate impediment, cannot send proxies who would attend in their name at
the eparchial assembly, but must notify the eparchial bishop of the impediment.
Canon 240 1. With due regard for the right of any Christian faithful to pose questions
to be treated at the eparchial assembly, only the eparchial bishop is to determine
the matters to be discussed in that assembly. 2. At a suitable time the eparchial
bishop is to appoint one or several commissions whose duty it is to prepare the
matters to be discussed in the assembly. 3. The eparchial bishop is also to see
that, at a suitable time, all who are summoned to the assembly are given an agenda
of the matters to be discussed. 4. All of the proposed questions are to be submitted
to free discussion in the sessions of the eparchial assembly.
Canon 241 The eparchial bishop is the sole legislator in the eparchial assembly,
the votes of others being only consultative. He is the only one who signs the
decisions which have been made in the eparchial assembly which, if they are promulgated
in the same assembly, begin to oblige immediately unless expressly provided otherwise.
Canon 242 The eparchial bishop is to communicate the text of the laws, declarations
and decrees which have been decided upon at the eparchial assembly to the authority
which the particular law of his Church sui iuris has determined.
Canon 243 1. The eparchial bishop is to have an eparchial curia in his see
which assists him in the governance of the eparchy committed to him. 2. To the
eparchial curia belong the protosyncellus, syncelli, judicial vicar, eparchial
finance officer and council for economic affairs, chancellor, eparchial judges,
promoter of justice and defender of the bond, notaries and other persons assigned
by the eparchial bishop for properly fulfilling the offices of the eparchial curia.
3. If it is necessary or useful for the eparchy the eparchial bishop can establish
other offices in the eparchial curia.
Canon 244 1. The appointment and removal from office of those who exercise
an office in the eparchial curia belongs to the eparchial bishop. 2. All who are
admitted to an office in the eparchial curia must: (1) make a promise to carry
out the office faithfully in the manner determined by the law or by the eparchial
bishop; (2) observe secrecy within the limits and according to the manner determined
by the law or by the eparchial bishop.
Canon 245 In each eparchy a protosyncellus is to be appointed who, endowed
with ordinary vicarious power according to the norm of common law, assists the
eparchial bishop in governing the whole eparchy.
Canon 246 As often as the correct governance of the eparchy requires it, one
or several syncelli can be appointed who, in a determined section of the eparchy,
in certain types of business or with regard to the Christian faithful enrolled
in another Church sui iuris or a certain group of persons, have by the law itself
the authority which common law attributes to the protosyncellus.
Canon 247 1. The protosyncellus and the syncelli are freely appointed by the
eparchial bishop and can freely be removed by him without prejudice to can. 215,
1 and 2. 2. The protosyncellus and the syncellus are to be celibate presbyters
unless the particular law of their Church sui iuris has established otherwise,
insofar as it is possible, they should be from the clergy enrolled in the eparchy,
not less than thirty years of age, have a doctorate or licentiate or at least
be expert in some sacred science, of sound doctrine, uprightness, prudence and
experience in handling matters. 3. The eparchial bishop is not to commit the office
of protosyncellus or syncellus to his blood relatives up to the fourth degree
inclusive. 4. The eparchial bishop can take the protosyncellus or syncelli from
another eparchy, even of another Church sui iuris, but with the consent of their
eparchial bishop.
Canon 248 1. Unless otherwise expressly determined by common law, the protosyncellus
in the entire eparchy and the syncelli within the limits of the office committed
to them, exercise the same executive powers of governance as the eparchial bishop,
excepting those things which the eparchial bishop has reserved to himself or to
others or which by law require his own special mandate, by which the act is null
if the required mandate is not obtained. 2. To the protosyncellus and the syncelli
within the limits of their competence belong also the habitual faculties granted
by the Apostolic See to the eparchial bishop as well as the execution of rescripts
of the Apostolic See or of the patriarch, unless otherwise expressly provided
or for which the eparchial bishop has been chosen on account of his personal qualifications.
Canon 249 The protosyncellus and the syncelli must report to the eparchial
bishop on the principal matters which are to be treated and which have been treated
and they are never to act contrary to his will or mind.
Canon 250 The protosyncellus and the syncelli who are presbyters have, during
the time they hold office, the privileges and insignia of the first dignity after
the episcopal dignity.
Canon 251 1. The protosyncellus and the syncelli cease from office after the
completion of the term, resignation accepted by the eparchial bishop, or removal.
2. When the eparchial see is vacant, can. 224 concerning the protosyncellus and
the syncelli shall be observed. 3. With the suspension of the office of the eparchial
bishop, the authority of the protosyncellus and the syncelli is suspended unless
they are ordained bishops.
Canon 252 1. In the eparchial curia a chancellor is to be appointed who is
to be a presbyter or deacon and whose principal obligation, unless otherwise established
by the particular law, is to see that the acts of the curia are gathered and arranged
as well as preserved in the archives of the eparchial curia. 2. If it seems necessary
the chancellor can be given an assistant whose title is vice-chancellor. 3. The
chancellor as well as the vice-chancellor are by the law itself notaries of the
eparchial curia.
Canon 253 1. Besides the chancellor other notaries can be appointed whose signature
establishes the authenticity of any acts whatsoever, of judicial acts only or
of the acts of a certain case or transaction only. 2. Notaries are to be of good
character and above reproach; a priest must be the notary in cases in which the
reputation of a cleric can be called into question.
Canon 254 It is the notaries' duty: (1) to write the acts and documents relating
to decrees, dispositions, obligations or other tasks which are required of them;
(2) to put faithfully into writing those things which are done and to sign the
acts of these matters with a notation of the place, day, month and year; (3) with
due consideration of all requirements, to furnish acts or documents to one legitimately
requesting them and to declare copies of them to be in conformity with the original.
Canon 255 The chancellor and other notaries can be freely removed from office
by the eparchial bishop, but not by the eparchial administrator except with the
consent of the college of eparchial consultors.
Canon 256 1. The eparchial bishop is to set up in a safe place the archive
of the eparchial curia in which documents pertaining to affairs of the eparchy
are to be preserved. 2. With all diligence and care, an inventory is to be drawn
up of the documents which are preserved in the archive of the eparchial curia
with a brief synopsis of each of the documents.
Canon 257 1. The archive of the eparchial curia is to be locked and the key kept
by the eparchial bishop and the chancellor; no one is permitted to enter it without
the permission of the eparchial bishop alone or the protosyncellus along with
the chancellor. 2. It is a right of interested parties to obtain personally or
through their proxy an authentic copy of documents which are public by their nature
and which pertain to the status of such persons.
Canon 258 It is not permitted to remove documents from the archive of the eparchial
curia except for a brief time only and with permission either of the eparchial
bishop alone or the protosyncellus along with the chancellor.
Canon 259 1. There is also to be a secret archive in the eparchial curia or at
least a secret safe in the archive of the eparchial curia, completely closed and
locked, which cannot be removed from the place, and in which documents to be kept
secret are preserved. 2. Each year, the procedural acts for inflicting penalties
in matters of morals are to be destroyed in which the guilty party has died, or
in which ten years have elapsed, retaining a brief summary of the facts and the
text of the definitive sentence or decree.
Canon 260 1. Only the eparchial bishop may have the key to the secret archives
or the secret safe. 2. When the eparchial see is vacant the secret archive or
secret safe are not to be opened except in a case of true necessity and then by
the eparchial administrator himself. 3. Documents are not to be removed from the
secret archive or secret safe.
Canon 261 1. The eparchial bishop is to see that the acts and documents of
the archive of cathedral, parochial and other churches existing within the territorial
boundaries of the eparchy are diligently preserved and two copies of the inventory
of the acts and documents are to be made, one of which is to be preserved in the
church's own archive and the other to be preserved in the archive of the eparchial
curia. 2. In order to inspect or remove the acts and documents of these archives,
the norms established by the eparchial bishop are to be observed.
Canon 262 1. The eparchial bishop, after consulting the college of eparchial
consultors and the finance council, is to appoint an eparchial finance officer
who is to be a member of the Christian faithful expert in economic matters and
distinguished for honesty. 2. The eparchial finance officer is appointed for a
term determined by particular law; he is not to be removed during his term of
office except for serious cause in the judgment of the eparchial bishop after
consulting the college of eparchial consultors and the finance council. 3. It
is the duty of the eparchial finance officer, under the authority of the eparchial
bishop, who is to determine more fully the finance officer's rights and relationships
to the finance council, to administer the temporal goods of the eparchy, to supervise
the administration of ecclesiastical goods in the whole eparchy, to provide for
their preservation, safety and increase, to supply for the negligence of local
administrators and to administer the goods which lack an administrator designated
by the law. 4. The eparchial finance officer must account for his or her administration
to the eparchial bishop every year and as often as it is requested by the eparchial
bishop; the eparchial bishop is to examine the account presented by the eparchial
finance officer through the finance council. 5. Can. 232 is to be observed in
regard to the obligations of the eparchial finance officer when the eparchial
see is vacant.
Canon 263 1. The eparchial bishop is to establish a finance council which consists
of a president, who is the eparchial bishop himself, and of other suitable persons
expert even if possible, in civil law, appointed by the eparchial bishop after
consulting the college of eparchial consultors unless some other equivalent process
is already provided by the particular law of his Church sui iuris, always without
prejudice to the needs for those who have been elected or appointed by others
to have the confirmation of the eparchial bishop. 2. The eparchial finance officer
is, by the law itself, a member of the finance council. 3. Those who are related
to the eparchial bishop up to the fourth degree inclusive of consanguinity or
affinity are excluded from membership on the finance council. 4. In actions of
greater importance regarding economic matters the eparchial bishop is not to omit
hearing the finance council; the members of the council have only a consultative
vote, unless expressly required by common law in special cases or if the document
creating the council requires their consent. 5. Besides the functions given to
it in common law, the finance council is to prepare an annual budget of the revenues
and expenditures foreseen in the coming year in the governance of the whole eparchy
as well as examine the account of revenues and expenses at the end of the year.
Canon 264 A presbyteral council must be established in the eparchy, that is
a body of priests representing the presbyterate, and which, according to the norm
of the law, assists the eparchial bishop by its advice in those things which regard
the needs of pastoral work and the good of the eparchy.
Canon 265 The presbyteral council is to have its own statutes approved by the
eparchial bishop without prejudice to the norm of common law and the particular
law of its own Church sui iuris.
Canon 266 The following are to be observed in regard to the constitution of the
presbyteral council: (1) an appropriate portion of the members are to be elected
by the priests themselves according to the norm of the particular law of their
Church sui iuris; (2) some priests, according to the norms of the statutes, must
be ex officio members who belong to the council in virtue of their offices; (3)
it is the right of the eparchial bishop to freely appoint other members.
Canon 267 1. In electing the members of the presbyteral council the following
have active and passive voice: (1) all presbyters enrolled in the eparchy; (2)
other priests who have domicile or quasi-domicile in the eparchy and at the same
time exercise some function for the good of the eparchy. 2. To the extent provided
in the statutes, active and passive voice can be conferred also upon other priests
who have domicile or quasi-domicile in the eparchy.
Canon 268 The manner of electing members to the presbyteral council is to be
determined by the statutes so that, insofar as it is possible, the priests of
the presbyterate are represented, taking into account especially the different
ministries and the various districts of the eparchy.
Canon 269 1. It pertains to the eparchial bishop to convoke the presbyteral
council, to preside over it and to determine the questions to be treated by it
or to receive proposals from members. 2. The eparchial bishop is to hear the presbyteral
council in matters of greater importance and in cases expressly determined by
common law he must consult them; however he needs its consent only in cases expressly
determined by common law with due regard for the right of the patriarch regarding
matters of the eparchy which he himself governs, in these cases the presbyteral
council need only be consulted. 3. The presbyteral council can never act without
the eparchial bishop, who alone can divulge those things which have been done
in the council itself.
Canon 270 1. The members of the presbyteral council are to be designated for
a term determined in the statutes so that the whole council or some part of it
is renewed within a five-year period. 2. When the eparchial see is vacant the
presbyteral council ceases and its functions are fulfilled by the college of eparchial
consultors; within a year from taking canonical possession of the eparchy, the
eparchial bishop must establish a new presbyteral council. 3. If the presbyteral
council is no longer fulfilling the function committed to it for the good of the
eparchy or is gravely abusing it, the eparchial bishop can dissolve it after consulting
with the metropolitan or, if it is a question of the metropolitan see itself,
after consulting the eparchial bishop senior in episcopal ordination, who is subject
to the same metropolitan, but he must establish a new presbyteral council within
a year.
Canon 271 1. The eparchial bishop must establish a college of eparchial consultors
to which belong the functions determined by law. 2. The college of eparchial consultors
is to be constituted for a five-year period but upon the expiration of the term
they continue in the exercise of their functions until a new college is established.
3. The members of the college of eparchial consultors must be not less than six
nor more than twelve in number; if, for any reason whatever, within the determined
five-year period there is no minimum number of members of the college, the eparchial
bishop is to restore the college by appointment of new members, otherwise the
college cannot act validly. 4. The members of the college of eparchial consultors
are freely appointed by the eparchial bishop from those who, at the time of their
appointment, are members of the presbyteral council. 5. The eparchial bishop presides
over the college of eparchial consultors; when the eparchial see is vacant or
impeded, it is presided over by the one who, in the interim, holds the place of
the eparchial bishop or, if none has been designated, by the priest of the college
itself who is senior by sacred ordination. 6. Whenever the law establishes that
the eparchial bishop needs the consent of the college of eparchial consultors,
it is sufficient for the patriarch, in the matters of the eparchy which he himself
governs, that he consult this college.
Canon 272 In the eparchy, if pastoral circumstances recommend it, a pastoral
council is to be established whose responsibility it is, under the authority of
the eparchial bishop, to investigate, ponder and propose practical conclusions
about those things which regard pastoral works in the eparchy.
Canon 273 1. The pastoral council, which is only a consultative body, consists
of clerics, religious or members of societies of common life in the manner of
religious, and, especially, of lay people designated in a manner determined by
the eparchial bishop. 2. The pastoral council is to be so established that, insofar
as possible, it represents the Christian faithful of the eparchy in regard to
the types of persons, associations and other endeavors. 3. Along with these Christian
faithful, if it is suitable, the eparchial bishop can invite others also to the
pastoral council, even if they are of another Church sui iuris. 4. No one except
Christian faithful of proven faith, good morals and outstanding prudence are to
be appointed to the pastoral council.
Canon 274 1. The pastoral council is established for a term according to the
prescriptions of the statutes which are to be given by the eparchial bishop. 2.
When the eparchial see is vacant the pastoral council ceases to exist.
Canon 275 It belongs to the eparchial bishop alone to convoke the pastoral
council according to the needs of the apostolate, to preside over it and to publish
the things which have been discussed in its meetings.
Canon 276 1. The protopresbyter is a presbyter who is placed over a district consisting
of several parishes so that, in the name of the eparchial bishop and in the same
district, he may fulfill the functions determined by law. 2. It belongs to the
eparchial bishop, after consulting the presbyteral council, to establish, change
and suppress this type of district according to the needs of pastoral action.
Canon 277 1. The office of protopresbyter, with due regard to the particular
law of his own Church sui iuris, must not be joined in a stable manner to the
office of pastor of a certain parish; the eparchial bishop, having heard, if he
considers it opportune, the pastors and parochial vicars of the district in question,
is to appoint a presbyter especially among the pastors, outstanding for his doctrine
and apostolic fervor. 2. The protopresbyter is to be appointed for a term determined
by particular law. 3. For a just cause, the eparchial bishop can remove a protopresbyter
from office.
Canon 278 1. Besides the powers and faculties bestowed upon him by particular
law it is the right and obligation of the protopresbyter to: (1) coordinate and
promote common pastoral action; (2) see to it that clerics lead a life in harmony
with their own state and that they diligently fulfill their obligations; (3) see
to it that the Divine Liturgy and the divine praises are celebrated according
to the prescriptions of the liturgical books, that the good appearance and condition
of the churches and sacred furnishings are carefully maintained especially in
the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and custody of the Divine Eucharist, that
ecclesiastical goods are carefully administered and, finally, that the parish
house is properly cared for. 2. In the district entrusted to him the protopresbyter:
(1) is to see that clerics attend meetings which the local hierarch judges appropriate
for promoting the sacred sciences and pastoral affairs; (2) is to take care that
clerics have ready access to spiritual helps, and be particularly concerned about
those who are found in more difficult circumstances or are beset with problems.
3. The protopresbyter is to take care that the pastors and their families, if
they are married, whom he knows to be seriously ill, do not lack spiritual and
material assistance and that the funerals of those who have died are celebrated
with dignity. He is also to provide that when they are sick or have died the books,
documents, sacred furnishings and other things which pertain to the Church are
not lost or removed. 4. The protopresbyter is bound by the obligation of visiting
the parishes according to the determination made by the eparchial bishop.
Canon 279 A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established
on a stable basis in the eparchy, whose pastoral care in entrusted to a pastor.
Canon 280 1. Generally, a parish is to be territorial, that is, it embraces
all the Christian faithful of a certain territory; if however, in the judgment
of the eparchial bishop, having consulted the presbyteral council, it is expedient,
personal parishes are to be erected based on nationality, language, enrollment
of the Christian faithful in another Church sui iuris or even upon some other
definite determining factor. 2. It is the competency of the eparchial bishop to
erect, modify and suppress parishes after consulting the presbyteral council.
3. A lawfully established parish is a juridic person by the law itself.
Canon 281 1. The pastor is to be a presbyter to whom, as the principal cooperator
of the eparchial bishop, is entrusted the care of souls as their proper shepherd
in a determined parish under the authority of the same eparchial bishop. 2. A
juridic person cannot validly be a pastor.
Canon 282 1. The eparchial bishop, but not the administrator of an eparchy,
after consulting the presbyteral council, and with the consent of the major superior
of a religious institute or society of common life in the manner of religious,
can erect a parish in the church of the same institute or society with due regard
for can. 480. 2. This erection must be done by means of a written agreement made
between the eparchial bishop and the major superior of the religious institute
or society of common life in the manner of religious. This agreement is to state
precisely what parochial ministry is to be fulfilled, the persons to be attached
to the parish, the financial arrangements, and what are the rights and obligations
of the members of the same institute or society in that church and what are those
of the pastor.
Canon 283 The eparchial bishop is not to remove from the pastor the partial
or total care of certain groups of persons, buildings and places which are in
the territory of the parish and are not exempt by law, except for a grave cause.
Canon 284 1. The right of naming pastors belongs solely to the eparchial bishop,
who freely names them. 2. To entrust a parish to a member of religious institute
or society of common life in the manner of religious, the major superior is to
propose a suitable priest of his institute to the eparchial bishop for appointment,
with due regard for agreements entered into with the eparchial bishop or other
authority determined by the particular law of the proper Church sui iuris. 3.
The pastor possesses stability in his office, therefore he is not to be named
for a determined period of time unless: (1) it concerns a member of a religious
institute or society of common life in the manner of religious; (2) a candidate
agrees to this in writing; (3) it concerns a special case, in which case the consent
of the college of eparchial consultors is required; (4) the particular law of
his Church sui iuris permits it.
Canon 285 1. In order for a presbyter to be named pastor it is necessary that
he be of good morals, sound doctrine, zealous for souls, endowed with prudence
and the other virtues and gifts which are required by law in order to fulfill
the parochial ministry in a praiseworthy manner. 2. If the presbyter is married,
good morals are required in his wife and his children who live with him. 3. After
he has weighed all the circumstances, the eparchial bishop is to confer a vacant
parish on the one whom he judges suitable without any partiality; in order to
make a judgment concerning a person's suitability he is to listen to the proto-presbyter,
conduct appropriate investigations and, if he considers it opportune, listen also
to other Christian faithful especially clerics.
Canon 286 When the eparchial see is vacant or impeded, the administrator of
the eparchy or another who governs the eparchy in the interim, is competent: (1)
to name as pastor a presbyter proposed by a major superior according to the norm
of can. 284, 2; (2) to name a pastor from other presbyters if the eparchial see
has been vacant or impeded for at least one year.
Canon 287 1. A pastor is to have the parochial care of only one parish; however
the care of several neighboring parishes can be entrusted to the same pastor due
to a dearth of presbyters or in other circumstances. 2. In the same parish there
is to be only one pastor; however, if the particular law of the Church sui iuris
allows it, a parish may be entrusted to several presbyters; the same particular
law is to determine accurately the rights and obligations of the moderator, who
directs the common action and reports on it to the eparchial bishop, and what
are those of the other presbyters.
Canon 288 The pastor acquires the care of souls by canonical provision; however,
he is not allowed to exercise his office unless he has taken canonical possession
of the parish according to the norm of particular law.
Canon 289 1. In carrying out the function of teaching, the pastor is bound
by the obligation of preaching the word of God to all of the Christian faithful
so that they may grow in faith, hope and charity rooted in Christ and that the
Christian community may render that witness of love which the Lord commanded;
the pastor is also to lead the Christian faithful to full knowledge of the mysteries
of salvation by catechetical formation accommodated to the age of each one; for
giving this formation he is to seek not only the assistance of members of religious
institutes or societies of common life in the manner of religious, but also the
cooperation of the laity. 2. In carrying out the function of sanctifying, the
pastor is to take care that the celebration of the Divine Liturgy is the center
and culmination of the whole life of the Christian community; and also to labor
that the Christian faithful are fed with spiritual food through devout and frequent
reception of the sacraments and through conscious and active participation in
the divine praises; he is also to be attentive especially to confer the sacrament
of penance to foster the Christian life; for which reason he is to make himself
readily available to administer this sacrament; even with the help, if it is appropriate,
of other priests who understand various languages. 3. In fulfilling the function
of governing, the pastor is first of all to know his flock; since he is the minister
of all the sheep, he is to foster growth in the Christian life both in individual
members of the Christian faithful and in associations, especially those directed
to the apostolate, and in the entire parish community; therefore he is to visit
the homes and schools insofar as the pastoral function requires it; to look out
zealously for adolescents and children; to exercise paternal love for the poor
and sick. Finally he is to have a special care for laborers and strive that the
Christian faithful offer assistance in the works of the apostolate.
Canon 290 1. In all juridic affairs the pastor represents the person of the
parish. 2. Sacred functions of greater importance, such as the celebration of
the sacraments of Christian initiation, the blessing of marriages, without prejudice
to can. 302, 2, the ecclesiastical funeral rites, belong to the pastor; therefore,
parochial vicars are not allowed to carry them out except by permission, at least
presumed, of the pastor himself.
Canon 291 All offerings except those treated in cann. 715-717 which are received
on the occasion of performing the pastoral function by the pastor and other clergy
attached to the parish are to be put into the parish account unless it is obvious
that such would be contrary to the will of the donor in the case of voluntary
offerings; the eparchial bishop is competent, after consulting the presbyteral
council, to establish regulations which provide for the allocation of these offerings
as well as those which provide for the remuneration of the pastor and other parish
clergy according to the norm of can. 390.
Canon 292 1. The pastor is bound by the obligation of residing in the parish
house near the parish church. However the local hierarch, for a just cause, can
permit him to reside elsewhere so long as the parochial ministry suffers no harm
from it. 2. Unless there is a serious reason to the contrary, the pastor may be
absent from the parish for a maximum of one continual or interrupted month per
year for his vacation; the days which the pastor spends once a year in spiritual
retreat are not counted as his vacation days; if the pastor wishes to be absent
from the parish beyond a week he is bound to inform his own local hierarch of
this. 3. The eparchial bishop is to issue norms which provide for the care of
the parish by a priest possessing the necessary powers and faculties during the
absence of the pastor.
Canon 293 The pastor is to remember to manifest in his daily contacts and solicitude
to the baptized and non-baptized, Catholic and non-Catholic, a truly priestly
and pastoral example of ministry and to give the proper witness of truth and life
to all; and, as a good shepherd, to seek out those baptized in the Catholic Church
who have absented themselves from the reception of the sacraments or even fallen
away from the faith.
Canon 294 The pastor is frequently to celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the
people of the parish entrusted to him but is bound to celebrate it for them on
the days prescribed by the particular law of his Church sui iuris.
Canon 295 In the parish there are to be appropriate councils dealing with pastoral
and economic matters, according to the norms of the particular law of its own
Church sui iuris.
Canon 296 1. In the parish there are to be parish books, namely, baptismal,
matrimonial, death and others, according to the norms of the particular law of
its own Church sui iuris or, if there are no norms, of the eparchial bishop himself;
the pastor is to see to it that these parish books are properly filled out and
preserved observing said norms. 2. In the baptismal register are also to be noted
the enrollment of the baptized into a determined Church sui iuris according to
the norm of can. 37, the administration of chrismation with holy myron as well
as those things which pertain to the canonical status of the Christian faithful
by reason of marriage, with due regard for can. 840, 3, adoption, and sacred orders
or perpetual profession in a religious institute; these notations are always to
be noted on the certificate of baptism. 3. Certificates which are given about
the canonical status of the Christian faithful and all the documents which can
have juridical importance are to be signed by the pastor himself or his delegate
and sealed with the parish seal. 4. In the parish there is to be an archive in
which the parish books are kept along with the hierarchial letters and other documents
which ought to be preserved due to necessity or usefulness; all of these are to
be inspected by the eparchial bishop or his delegate during his canonical visitation
or at another suitable time; the pastor is to take care that they not come into
the hands of outsiders. 5. The older parish books are also to be preserved according
to the norms of particular law.
Canon 297 1. The pastor ceases from office by resignation accepted by the eparchial
bishop, expiration of term, removal or transfer. 2. When a pastor has completed
his seventy-fifth year of age he is asked to submit his resignation from office
to the eparchial bishop, who, after considering all the circumstances of person
and place, is to decide whether to accept or defer the resignation; the eparchial
bishop, taking into account the norms of particular law of his own Church sui
iuris, is to provide for the suitable support and housing of the resigned pastor.
Canon 298 If the parish becomes vacant or the pastor is hindered by any cause
from exercising the pastoral function in the parish, the eparchial bishop is to
appoint as soon as possible another priest as parochial administrator.
Canon 299 1. The administrator of a parish has the same rights and obligations
as the pastor unless the eparchial bishop determines otherwise. 2. A parochial
administrator is not permitted to do anything which can prejudice the rights of
the pastor or harm parish goods. 3. When he has fulfilled his office the parochial
administrator is to render an account to the pastor.
Canon 300 1. When the parish is vacant and when the pastor is absolutely hindered
from exercising his pastoral function, before the appointment of an administrator
of the parish, the parochial vicar assumes the interim care of the parish; and,
if there are several parochial vicars, the one senior in presbyteral ordination;
and if there are no vicars, the nearest pastor; the eparchial bishop is to determine
at an early date which parish is considered closer to which parish. 2. The one
who assumes the interim governance of a parish is immediately to inform the eparchial
bishop.
Canon 301 1. One or several parochial vicars, who must be presbyters, can be associated
with the pastor whenever it is necessary or suitable for fulfilling the proper
pastoral care of the parish. 2. A parochial vicar can be designated either for
the whole parish or for a determined part of the parish. 3. The eparchial bishop
freely names a parochial vicar, having heard, unless he prudently judges otherwise,
the pastor, or if it concerns a member of a religious institute or society of
common life in the manner of religious, observing can. 284, 2.
Canon 302 1. The parochial vicars are to exercise the rights and obligations of
the common and particular law as well as from the letters of the eparchial bishop
and under the authority of the pastor; but, unless expressly determined otherwise
and except for the obligation mentioned in can. 294, the parochial vicar must,
in virtue of his office assist in the entire parochial ministry and if circumstances
warrant it, to substitute for the pastor. 2. In virtue of his office, the parochial
vicar does not have the faculty of blessing marriages; nevertheless, this faculty
can also be conferred upon him even generally, by, besides the local hierarch,
the pastor within the boundaries of the parish; if conferred upon him, the parochial
vicar can also confer this faculty upon other priests for individual cases. 3.
The parochial vicar, as the cooperator of the pastor, provides daily a preeminent
and active assistance in the pastoral function. Between the pastor and the parochial
vicar there should always be a fraternal relationship, mutual love and reverence;
they are to assist each other by consultation, help and example, studiously providing
parochial care in harmonious and common will. 4. The parochial vicar is bound
by the obligation of residing in the parish according to the prescriptions of
the eparchial bishop or lawful custom; the parochial vicar has the same rights
to vacation as the pastor.
Canon 303 The parochial vicar can be removed by the eparchial bishop for a just
cause; however, if the parochial vicar is a member of a religious institute or
society of common life in the manner of religious, can. 1391, 2 is to be observed.
Canon 304 The rector of a church is a presbyter, to whom is given the care of
some church which is neither parochial nor is connected with a house of an institute
of consecrated life.
Canon 305 1. The rector of a church is named by the eparchial bishop without
prejudice to the right of the major superior of a religious institute or society
of common life in the manner of religious to propose a suitable priest of his
institute for appointment. 2. Even if the church belongs to some clerical institute
of consecrated life of pontifical or patriarchal right, the eparchial bishop is
competent to name the rector of a church proposed by the superior. 3. If the church
is connected with a seminary or other college which is governed by presbyters,
the rector of the seminary or college is, at the same time, the rector of the
church unless the eparchial bishop has determined otherwise.
Canon 306 1. In the church committed to him the rector of the church is not permitted
to perform parochial functions unless the pastor consents or, if the matter warrants
it, delegates the rector with due regard for can. 336, 2. 2. The rector of the
church can celebrate the Divine Liturgy and the divine praises there with due
regard for the legitimate statutes of foundation and as long as, in the judgment
of the local hierarch, they are in no way prejudicial to the parochial ministry.
Canon 307 If he thinks it advisable, the local hierarch can order the rector of
a church to celebrate specific sacred functions, even parochial ones, in the church
committed to him, and to make the church available to certain groups of the Christian
faithful.
Canon 308 Without the permission, at least presumed, of the rector of the church
or higher authority, no one is allowed to celebrate the Divine Liturgy or the
divine praises, administer the sacraments or perform other sacred functions in
the church; but this permission must be given or denied according to the norms
of the law.
Canon 309 Under the authority of the local hierarch and with due regard for the
legitimate statutes and acquired rights, the rector of the church must see that
the Divine Liturgy, sacraments and divine praises are celebrated in the church
according to the prescriptions of the liturgical books and law, that obligations
are faithfully fulfilled, that its ecclesiastical goods are carefully administered,
that the maintenance and the good appearance of sacred furnishings and buildings
are provided for and that nothing whatever is done which is in any way out of
harmony with the sanctity of the place and the reverence due to a house of God.
Canon 310 The eparchial bishop can remove the rector of a church for a just
cause. If the rector of the church is a member of a religious institute or society
of common life in the manner of religious, can. 1391, 2 is to be observed. TITLE
8 Exarchies and Exarchs
Canon 311 1. An exarchy is a portion of the people God which, because of special
circumstances, is not erected as an eparchy, and which is established within territorial
or other kinds of limits and is committed to an exarch. 2. In the establishment,
modification, suppression of an exarchy which is located within the territorial
boundaries of a patriarchal Church, can. 85, 3 is to be observed. The establishment,
modification and suppression of other exarchies belongs to the Apostolic See alone.
Canon 312 The exarch governs the exarchy either in the name of the one who
appointed him or in his own name; this must be determined in the establishment
or modification of the exarchy.
Canon 313 What is said in the law concerning eparchies or eparchial bishops
applies also to exarchs or exarchies, unless otherwise expressly provided or otherwise
evident from the nature of the matter.
Canon 314 1. Within the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church the
exarch is appointed by the patriarch after consulting the permanent synod, without
prejudice to cann. 181-188 if it concerns an exarch who is to be promoted to episcopal
ordination. In other cases, the appointment of the exarch belongs to the Apostolic
See alone. 2. The exarch appointed by the patriarch cannot be removed from office
except with the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church. 3.
The exarch takes canonical possession of the exarchy committed to him by showing
the decree of appointment to him who is governing the exarchy in the interim.
Canon 315 1. The exarch established outside the territorial boundaries of the
patriarchal Church can petition from the patriarch suitable presbyters to undertake
the spiritual care of the Christian faithful. The patriarch, insofar as he can
do so, should fulfill the petition of the exarch. 2. Presbyters sent into the
exarchy by the patriarch, whether they are sent temporarily or permanently, are
considered attached to the exarchy and must be subject in all things to the authority
of the exarch.
Canon 316 From decrees of the exarch who governs the exarchy in the name of
the Roman Pontiff or the patriarch, recourse is made respectively to the Apostolic
See or the patriarch. From decrees of the exarch who governs an exarchy in his
own name, recourse is made according to the ordinary norms of the law.
Canon 317 Exarchs are bound by the obligation of visiting the tombs of the
blessed Apostles Peter and Paul according to the norm can. 208, except exarchs
who govern an exarchy entrusted to them in the name of the patriarch.
Canon 318 1. Exarchs appointed by the patriarch must, every five years, send
a written report to the patriarch about the spiritual and temporal state of the
exarchy. 2. An exarch appointed by the Roman Pontiff must present the same report
to the Apostolic See every five years and if he belongs to a patriarchal Church,
must also send a copy of the report to the patriarch as soon as possible.
Canon 319 1. Exarchs are bound by the law concerning the eparchial assembly,
the eparchial curia, the presbyteral council, the college of eparchial consultors
and the pastoral council, equitably adjusted by reason of places and persons in
the judgment of the authority who established or modified the exarchy. 2. If the
college of consultors cannot be constituted according to the norm of can. 271,
3, the exarch is to constitute a council of not less than three members, from
the more prudent presbyters, chosen from among the members of the presbyteral
council insofar as possible and if it exists, whose consent or advice he must
seek as often as the law states that the eparchial bishop needs the consent or
advice of the college of eparchial consultors in order to act.
Canon 320 1. When the exarchy is vacant or impeded, the government transfers to
the protosyncellus or, when there is none, to the pastor senior by presbyteral
ordination. 2. He who comes into the interim governance of the exarchy must as
soon as possible inform the authority whose right it is to appoint the exarch
so that he can fill the vacancy. Meanwhile he can use all the powers and faculties,
whether ordinary or delegated which the exarch had, unless they were committed
to the exarch for his personal qualifications.
Canon 321 1. During the time he is in office, an exarch who is not an ordained
bishop has the privileges and insignia of the first dignity after the episcopal
dignity. 2. Particular law is to be followed in determining whether he retains
the privileges and insignia after he has carried out his function. TITLE 9 Assemblies
of Hierarchs of Several Churches Sui Iuris
Canon 322 1. When it seems opportune in the judgment of the Apostolic See,
patriarchs, metropolitans of metropolitan Churches sui iuris, eparchial bishops,
and, if the statutes so establish, other local hierarchs of various Churches sui
iuris, even the Latin, exercising their authority in the same nation or region,
are to be assembled at stated times for periodic assemblies by the patriarch or
another authority designated by the Apostolic See in order that communicating
the insights of prudence and experience, taking counsel together, the hierarchs
work in accord as much as possible for the common good of the Churches, through
which unity of action is fostered, common endeavors are facilitated, the good
of religion is expeditiously promoted and ecclesiastical discipline is efficaciously
preserved. 2. The decisions of this assembly do not have juridically binding force
unless they deal with things which in no way can be prejudicial to the rite of
each and every Church sui iuris or to the authority of the patriarchs, synods,
metropolitans and councils of hierarchs, and at the same time are passed by at
least two-thirds of those members enjoying deliberative vote as well as approved
by the Apostolic See. 3. A decision, even if passed by unanimous vote, which in
any way whatever exceeds the competence of the assembly lacks all force until
it has been approved by the Roman Pontiff himself. 4. Each and every assembly
of hierarchs of several Churches sui iuris is to draw up its own statutes in which
is fostered, insofar as possible, even participation of hierarchs of Churches
which are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. The statutes, to
be valid, must be approved by the Apostolic See. TITLE 10 Clerics
Canon 323 1. Clerics, who are also called sacred ministers, are Christian faithful
who, chosen by the competent ecclesiastical authority, are deputed through a gift
of the Holy Spirit received in sacred ordination to be ministers of the Church
participating in the mission and power of Christ, the Pastor. 2. In virtue of
sacred ordination clerics are distinguished from the other Christian faithful
by divine institution.
Canon 324 Clerics joined among themselves by hierarchical communion and constituted
in various degrees participate in diverse ways in the one ecclesiastical ministry
of divine origin.
Canon 325 In virtue of sacred ordination clerics are distinguished as bishops,
presbyters and deacons.
Canon 326 Clerics are constituted into the degrees of orders by sacred ordination
itself; but they cannot exercise that power except according to the norm of the
law.
Canon 327 If besides bishops, presbyters or deacons, other ministers, constituted
in minor orders, generally called minor clerics, are admitted or instituted for
the service of the people of God or to exercise the functions of the sacred liturgy,
they are governed only by the particular law of their own Church sui iuris.
Canon 328 It is the proper right and obligation of the Church to train clerics
and her other ministers; this obligation is particularly and more diligently fulfilled
through the erection and governing of seminaries.
Canon 329 1. The task of fostering vocations especially to the sacred ministries
belongs to the whole Christian community, which, as its shared responsibility,
must be solicitous for the needs of ministry of the whole Church: (1) parents,
teachers and other first educators of the Christian life are to take care that
families and schools are so animated by the evangelical spirit that boys and young
people called by the Lord through the Holy Spirit can freely hear and willingly
respond to Him; (2) clerics, especially pastors, are to take pains to discern
and foster vocations both in young people and even in others of a more advanced
age; (3) the eparchial bishop especially, joining forces with other hierarchs,
is to stir up his flock in promoting vocations and to coordinate their endeavors.
2. Particular law is to provide that either regional or, insofar as is possible,
eparchial projects for promoting vocations are instituted in all Churches, these
ought to be open to the needs of the universal Church, especially missionary needs.
Canon 330 1. It is proper for the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church
or council of hierarchs to set up a program for the training of clerics, in which
the common law is more precisely set forth for seminaries located within the territorial
boundaries of its own Church. In other cases it is proper to the eparchial bishop
to develop this type of program for his own eparchy, without prejudice to can.
150, 3. It is also proper to the same authorities to change the program. 2. There
can also be a program of formation, set up by mutual agreement, common to an entire
region or nation or even with other Churches sui iuris being careful that the
character of the rites suffer no harm. 3. Faithfully observing common law and
keeping in mind the tradition of its own Church sui iuris, the program of formation
of clerics is to include, in addition to other things, more specific norms about
the personal, spiritual, doctrinal and pastoral formation of students as well
as about individual disciplines to be taught and the ordering of courses and of
examinations.
Canon 331 1. In the minor seminary, in the first place those who seem to show
signs of a vocation to the sacred ministry are to be instructed so that they can
more easily and clearly discern it themselves and refine it by a dedicated spirit;
according to the norm of particular law, others also can be instructed who, even
though they do not seem to be called to the clerical state, can be formed to fulfill
certain ministries or apostolic works. Other institutes which, according to their
statutes, serve the same purposes, even if they differ in name, are equivalent
to a minor seminary. 2. In the major seminary, the vocation of those who are already
considered suitable by certain signs for steadfastly undertaking the sacred ministries
is more fully cultivated, proven and confirmed.
Canon 332 1. A minor seminary may be erected in any eparchy if the good of the
Church demands it and the personnel and financial resources permit it. 2. A major
seminary is to be established which serves either one very large eparchy or, if
not a whole Church sui iuris, at least, by mutual agreement, several eparchies
of the same Church sui iuris, and even of diverse Churches sui iuris which have
an eparchy in the same region or nation so that, whether by the suitable number
of students or the number of properly experienced moderators and teachers, as
well as by sufficient material resources, and the best combined efforts, instruction
is provided for which nothing is left wanting.
Canon 333 Even if it is preferred that a seminary, especially minor seminaries,
be reserved to students of one Church sui iuris, on account of special circumstances
students of another Church sui iuris can be admitted into the same seminary.
Canon 334 1. A seminary is erected by the eparchial bishop for his own eparchy
or in common for several eparchies by the eparchial bishops of those same eparchies
or by higher authority, however with the consent of the council of hierarchs if
that higher authority is of a metropolitan Church sui iuris or with the consent
of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church if it is a patriarchal Church.
2. Eparchial bishops, for whose subjects a common seminary has been erected, cannot
validly erect another seminary without the consent of the authority which erected
the common seminary, or, if it concerns a seminary erected by the eparchial bishops
themselves, without the unanimous consent of the bishops who agreed or without
the consent of their higher authority.
Canon 335 1. A seminary legitimately erected is a juridic person by the law itself.
2. The rector of the seminary represents it in the handling of all matters unless
particular law or the statutes of the seminary have determined otherwise.
Canon 336 1. A seminary common to several eparchies is subject to the hierarch
designated by those who erected the seminary. 2. The seminary is to be exempt
from parochial governance; the rector of the seminary or his delegate is to fulfill
the office of pastor for all who are in the seminary, with the exception of matrimonial
matters and with due regard for the prescription of can. 734.
Canon 337 1. A seminary is to have its own statutes in which are determined
first of all the special purpose and competence of its authorities. Furthermore,
they are to establish the manner of appointment or election, term in office, rights
and obligations and just remuneration of the moderators, officials, teachers and
counselors as well as plans by which they and the students participate in the
concerns of the rector especially in the observance of discipline of the seminary.
2. The seminary is also to have its own directory in which the norm of the program
of formation of clerics, accommodated to special circumstances, is put into effect
and in which are more fully determined the areas of discipline which, without
prejudice to the statutes, treat the formation of students as well as of daily
life and the ordering of the whole seminary. 3. The statutes of the seminary need
the approval of the authority which erected the seminary and who is competent
also, if the situation warrants, to modify them; with regard to the directory,
this approval belongs to the authority determined in the statutes.
Canon 338 1. In each and every seminary there is to be a rector and, if the situations
warrants, a finance officer and other moderators and officials. 2. The rector
is to see to the general supervision of the seminary according to the norm of
the statutes, to urge that the statutes and directory of the seminary be observed
by all, to coordinate the work of the other moderators and officials and to foster
unity and collaboration in the whole seminary.
Canon 339 1. There is also to be at least one spiritual father, distinct from
the rector; the students can also freely request as a spiritual father another
presbyter approved by the rector for their spiritual director. 2. Besides the
ordinary confessors, other confessors are to be designated or invited, keeping
intact the right of the students to petition for any confessor whomsoever, even
from outside the seminary, without prejudice to the discipline of the seminary.
3. In making judgments about persons it is not permitted to ask for the opinion
of confessors or spiritual fathers.
Canon 340 1. If a curriculum is set up in the seminary itself there are to
be on hand a suitable number of teachers properly selected and truly expert in
their own science and, in major seminaries, possessing suitable academic degrees.
2. The teachers ought to confer regularly, day after day, having conducted proper
preparation, and harmoniously cooperating among themselves and with the moderators
of the seminary for an integrated formation of the future ministers of the Church,
aimed at a unity of faith and formation among the varieties of disciplines. 3.
Teachers of the sacred sciences, having followed the footsteps of the holy fathers
and doctors highly praised by the Church, especially of the East, are to strive
to illustrate doctrine from the eminent treasury handed down by them.
Canon 341 1. The authority which erected the seminary is to take care that the
expenses of the seminary are met even by the assessments or collections treated
in cann. 1012 and 1014. 2. Even religious houses are subject to the assessments
for the seminary unless these houses are supported by donations or actually have
a place of studies in them as treated in cann. 471, 2 and 536, 2.
Canon 342 1. Only those students are to be admitted into the seminary who,
according to the norm of the statutes, are proven from documents to possess the
required abilities. 2. No one is to be accepted unless it is shown with certainty
that he has received the sacraments of baptism and chrismation with holy myron.
3. Those who were students in another seminary or in a religious institute or
society of common life in the manner of religious are not to be admitted before
obtaining the testimony of the rector or the superior, especially concerning the
reason for dismissal or departure.
Canon 343 Students, even if admitted into a seminary of another Church sui
iuris, or into a common seminary for several Churches sui iuris, are to be formed
in their own rite. Any custom to the contrary is reprobated.
Canon 344 1. Adolescents and young people living in a minor seminary are to
have appropriate relationships with their families and peers, which they need
for sound psychological, particularly emotional, development; however they are
carefully to avoid all things which, according to sound psychological and pedagogical
norms, can diminish in any way the free choice of a state of life. 2. Assisted
by suitable spiritual direction students are to be trained in making personal
and responsible decisions in the light of the Gospel and for the continual refinement
of their various natural abilities, not omitting any appropriate virtues of human
nature. 3. The curriculum of a minor seminary is to consist of those things required
in each nation for beginning higher studies, and, insofar as the plan of studies
permits, also those which are especially necessary or useful for undertaking the
sacred ministry; care is generally to be taken that students obtain a civil diploma,
and that their studies can be pursued, even somewhere else, if they so choose.
4. Students more advanced in age are to be instructed either in a seminary or
a special institute, having taken into account any earlier formation.
Canon 345 The formation of students is to be completed in the major seminary,
supplementing those things which, perhaps, in individual cases, were lacking in
their formation in the minor seminary, by integrating the spiritual, intellectual
and pastoral formation so that they may be effective ministers of Christ in the
midst of the Church, a light and the salt for the world of this age.
Canon 346 1. Those aspiring to the sacred ministry are to be formed so that
in the Holy Spirit, as a familiar companion, they might dwell with Christ and
to seek God in all things, so that, impelled by the love of Christ, the Pastor,
by the gift of their lives, they become solicitous to gain all people for the
kingdom of God. 2. They ought to draw daily from the word of God and especially
from the sacraments, to receive the power for their spiritual lives and strength
for apostolic labor: (1) alert to the word of God, in constant meditation, and
according to the example of the fathers of the faith, students are to train for
a life more configured to the life of Christ, and, strengthened in faith, hope
and charity, to strive to live according to the pattern given in the Gospel; (2)
they are to participate assiduously in the Divine Liturgy, which shines forth
as the font and culmination of seminary life as it is of the whole of the Christian
life; (3) they ought to learn to celebrate continually the divine praises according
to their own rite and to nourish their spiritual life from them; (4) they ought
to learn especially by means of spiritual direction to open rightly their consciences
and receive the sacrament of penance frequently; (5) they ought to pursue a filial
piety to Holy Mary ever Virgin, Mother of God, whom Christ established as mother
of all people; (6) they ought also to foster exercises of piety which are conducive
to a spirit of prayer and to the strength and defense of an apostolic vocation,
especially by those things which are commended by the venerable tradition of their
own Church sui iuris; further, spiritual retreat, instruction concerning the sacred
ministries and exhortations in the way of the spirit are recommended; (7) students
are to be educated according to the mind of the Church and its service as well
as to the virtue of obedience and mutual cooperation with their brothers; (8)
they are to be helped also with those other virtues, which especially apply to
their vocation, such as discretion of spirit, chastity, fortitude of the soul;
they are also to esteem and cultivate those virtues which are found among most
of humanity and enhance the ministry of Christ, among which are sincerity of heart,
diligent concern for justice, the spirit of poverty, fidelity to promises, courtesy
in acting, speaking modestly joined with charity. 3. The disciplinary norms of
the seminary are to be applied according to the maturity of the students so that,
while they learn more to discipline themselves by degrees, they may be trained
to use freedom wisely and to act unaided and diligently.
Canon 347 Doctrinal instruction should be directed so that the students, understanding
the general culture of the place and time and investigating the undertakings and
accomplishments of the human spirit, may acquire broad and solid instruction in
the sacred sciences, so that educated with a fuller understanding of the faith
and strengthened in the light of Christ the teacher, they may be able more effectively
to illuminate the people of their time and to serve truth.
Canon 348 1. For those who are destined for the priesthood, the studies of the
major seminary, without prejudice to can. 345, are to be comprised of philosophical
and theological courses, which can be followed either successively or conjointly.
These same studies are to encompass at least six complete years in such a way
that two full years are devoted to the philosophical disciplines and four full
years to theological studies. 2. They ought to start the philosophical-theological
course with an introduction into the mystery of Christ and the economy of salvation,
and they shall not finish until there has been shown, taking into consideration
the order or hierarchy of the truths of Catholic doctrine, the relationship between
all the disciplines and their coherent arrangement.
Canon 349 1. Philosophical instruction should be taught so that it accomplishes
a formation in the human sciences; therefore, having taken into account the wisdom
both of the ancient and the recent age, of the whole human family and especially
of their own culture, the perennially valid philosophical patrimony is to be sought.
2. Both historical and systematic courses are to be taught so that students can
easily discern truth and falsehood with a sharp intellectual discretion, can properly
pursue theological investigations with a mind open to the word of God, and be
made more suitable for carrying out the ministry by a dialogue with the learned
people of this age.
Canon 350 1. Theological disciplines are to be so taught in the light of faith
in such a way that students deeply penetrate Catholic doctrine drawn from divine
revelation and express it in their own culture so that it may be nourishment for
their own spiritual life and an instrument for usefully carrying out effective
ministry. 2. It is necessary that Sacred Scripture be as the soul of all of theology,
and must influence all sacred disciplines; therefore in addition to exegesis,
an accurate methodology, the principal sources of the economy of salvation as
well as the greater themes of biblical theology are to be taught. 3. Liturgy is
to be taught in virtue of its special importance as a necessary source of doctrine
and of a truly Christian spirit. 4. As long as the unity which Christ wished for
His Church has not been fully brought into reality, ecumenism is to be one of
the necessary considerations of each and every theological discipline.
Canon 351 Teachers of the sacred sciences, since they teach with a mandate from
ecclesiastical authority, are faithfully to teach the doctrine proposed by it,
and are to submit (obsequor) humbly in all things to the constant magisterium
and supervision of the Church.
Canon 352 1. The pastoral formation is to be adapted according to the conditions
of place and time and to the aptitude of the students whether celibate or married
and to the needs of the ministry for which they are preparing themselves. 2. Students
are to be instructed especially in the catechetical and homiletic arts, liturgical
celebration, parish administration, dialogue of evangelization with non-believers
or non-Christians, or with the less fervent Christian faithful, the social apostolate
and the instruments of social communication, not neglecting auxiliary disciplines
such as psychology and pastoral sociology. 3. Although students are preparing
themselves for the ministry in their own Church sui iuris, they are to be formed
in a truly universal spirit by which they are prepared in spirit to respond in
the service of souls everywhere in the world. Therefore they are to be thoroughly
instructed about the needs of the universal Church, and especially about the apostolate
of ecumenism and evangelization.
Canon 353 According to the norm of particular law, there are to be exercises
and tests strengthening pastoral formation, in such areas as social or charitable
service, catechetical instruction, but especially in the pastoral internship during
philosophical-theological formation, and in the diaconal internship before ordination
to the presbyterate.
Canon 354 The formation of deacons not destined for the priesthood is to be appropriately
adapted from the norms given above so that the curriculum of studies extends at
least three years keeping in mind the traditions of their own Church sui iuris
concerning the service of the liturgy, the word and charity.
Canon 355 Candidates for ordination are to be properly taught the obligations
of clerics and led to undertake and fulfill them magnanimously.
Canon 356 1. The rector is to send a report on the formation of the students each
year to the eparchial bishop or, if the situation is such, to the major superior;
but concerning the status of the seminary, to those who established it. 2. The
eparchial bishop or major superior is to visit the seminary frequently for consultation
concerning the formation of his students especially if there is a question concerning
those to be promoted to sacred orders.
Canon 357 1. Every cleric is to be enrolled as a cleric either in some eparchy
or exarchy or religious institute or society of common life in the manner of religious
or, also, in institutes or in associations which have obtained from the Apostolic
See the right to enroll clerics in themselves or, within the territorial boundaries
of the Church over which he presides, from the patriarch with the consent of the
permanent synod. 2. What is established concerning the enrollment of clerics in
some eparchy and dismissal from it is also applicable with the appropriate modification
to those juridic persons mentioned above as well as, if the particular law so
states, to the patriarchal Church itself, unless the law has expressly stated
otherwise.
Canon 358 Through diaconal ordination a man is enrolled as a cleric in the
eparchy for whose service he is ordained unless, according to the norm of the
particular law of his own Church sui iuris, he has already been enrolled in the
same eparchy.
Canon 359 In order that a cleric already enrolled in some eparchy to be validly
transferred in another eparchy he must obtain from his eparchial bishop letters
of dismissal signed by that same bishop and at the same time must obtain letters
of enrollment signed by the eparchial bishop of the eparchy in which he wishes
to be enrolled.
Canon 360 1. Through a written agreement between both eparchial bishops in which
the rights and obligations of the cleric or bishops are established, a cleric
can move into another eparchy for a determined period of time, even renewed many
times, but he retains his original enrollment. 2. With the passage of five years
after the legitimate move the cleric is by the law itself enrolled in the host
eparchy if he has made such a desire known in writing to both eparchial bishops
and neither bishop expresses opposition in writing within four months.
Canon 361 A cleric, mostly for the evangelization of the whole Church, is not
to be denied a transfer in enrollment or a move to another eparchy laboring under
a severe lack of clergy, so long as he is prepared and suitable for carrying out
the ministry there, unless there is a true need in his own eparchy or Church sui
iuris.
Canon 362 1. For a just reason a cleric can be recalled from the other eparchy
by his own eparchial bishop or returned by the hosting eparchial bishop observing
the agreements made as well as equity. 2. One legitimately returning to his own
eparchy from another does so without prejudice to and having preserved all of
the rights which he would have had if he had exercised the sacred ministry there.
Canon 363 The following cannot validly enroll a cleric in an eparchy, dismiss
him from it, or grant permission to the cleric to move outside of it: (1) the
administrator of the patriarchal Church, without the consent of the permanent
synod; the patriarchal exarch and the administrator of an eparchy without the
consent of the patriarch; (2) in other cases, the administrator of an eparchy,
unless the eparchial see has been vacant for a year, and then only with the consent
of the college of eparchial consultors.
Canon 364 The enrollment of a cleric in some eparchy does not cease except by
valid enrollment in another eparchy or by loss of the clerical state.
Canon 365 1. For licit transfer in or move to another eparchy just causes such
as the advantage of the Church or the good of the cleric himself are required.
Permission is not to be denied except for serious reasons. 2. If the particular
law of the Church sui iuris so prescribes, it is also required for the licit transfer
to an eparchy of another Church sui iuris that the eparchial bishop releasing
the cleric obtain the consent of the authority determined by the same particular
law.
Canon 366 1. The eparchial bishop is not to enroll an alien cleric to his eparchy
unless: (1) the needs or advantage of the eparchy require it; (2) he is convinced
that the cleric has the aptitude to carry out the ministry, especially if the
cleric is coming from another Church sui iuris; (3) he is convinced by a legitimate
document that the cleric has obtained legitimate dismissal from his eparchy; and
he has obtained from the dismissing eparchial bishop, secretly if appropriate,
suitable testimonials concerning the background and morals of the cleric; (4)
the cleric has declared in writing that he is devoting himself to service of the
new eparchy according to the norm of the law. 2. The eparchial bishop is to inform
the previous eparchial bishop about the completed enrollment of the cleric into
his eparchy as soon as possible.
Canon 367 Clerics have, as their first obligation, to announce the Kingdom of
God to all and to make manifest the love of God towards all humanity in the ministry
of the Word and sacraments and even in their whole lives, so that all, loving
one another and above all things loving God, may be built up and increase in the
Body of Christ which is the Church.
Canon 368 Clerics are bound in a special manner to the perfection which Christ
proposed to his disciples, since they are consecrated to God in a new way by sacred
ordination, so that they may become more suitable instruments of Christ, the eternal
priest, in the service of the people of God, and at the same time that they be
exemplary models to the flock.
Canon 369 1. The daily reading and meditation of the Word of God is incumbent
upon clerics so that as faithful and truly attentive hearers of the Christ, they
may become true ministers of preaching; they are to be unremitting in prayer,
in liturgical celebrations and especially in devotions toward the mystery of the
Eucharist. They are to daily examine their consciences and frequently receive
the sacrament of penance. They are to honor St. Mary, the ever Virgin Mother of
God, and implore from her the grace of conforming themselves to her Son; they
are to carry out the other pious exercises of their own Church sui iuris. 2. They
are to attach great importance to spiritual direction and to take time for spiritual
retreats at the times established according to the prescriptions of the particular
law.
Canon 370 Clerics are bound by a special obligation to show reverence and obedience
to the Roman Pontiff, the patriarch and the eparchial bishop.
Canon 371 1. Having fulfilled the requirements of law, clerics have the right
to obtain from their eparchial bishop an office, ministry or function to be exercised
in the service of the Church. 2. Clerics are to accept and faithfully carry out
every office, ministry, or function committed to them by the competent authority
whenever, in the judgment of this same authority, the needs of the Church require
it. 3. However in order that they may exercise a civil profession the permission
of their own proper hierarch is required.
Canon 372 1. After completing the formation which is required for sacred orders
clerics are not to stop devoting attention to the sacred sciences. Indeed they
are to take measures to acquire a more profound and timely knowledge and use of
them through formative courses approved by their own hierarch. 2. They are to
attend conferences which the hierarch has judged suitable for promoting the sacred
sciences and pastoral matters. 3. Also, they are not to neglect to acquire for
themselves as much knowledge of profane sciences, especially those sciences connected
more intimately with the sacred sciences, such as those which cultured people
ought to have.
Canon 373 Clerical celibacy chosen for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and suited
to the priesthood is to be greatly esteemed everywhere, as supported by the tradition
of the whole Church; likewise, the hallowed practice of married clerics in the
primitive Church and in the tradition of the Eastern Churches throughout the ages
is to be held in honor.
Canon 374 Clerics, celibate or married, are to excel in the virtue of chastity;
it is for the particular law to establish suitable means for pursuing this end.
Canon 375 In leading family life and in educating children married clergy are
to show an outstanding example to other Christian faithful.
Canon 376 The praiseworthy common life among the celibate clergy is to be fostered,
insofar as possible, so that they may be mutually helped in cultivating the spiritual
and intellectual life and may be able to cooperate more fittingly in the ministry.
Canon 377 All clerics must celebrate the divine praises according to the particular
law of their own Church sui iuris.
Canon 378 According to the norm of the particular law clerics are to celebrate
the Divine Liturgy frequently, especially on Sundays and holy days of obligation;
indeed daily celebration is eagerly encouraged.
Canon 379 Clerics of whatever Church sui iuris linked as brothers in the bond
of charity to attain the unity of all, work together for the building up of the
body of Christ and consequently whatever their condition, are to cooperate among
themselves and help one another, even performing diverse functions.
Canon 380 All clerics are to have a concern for vocations to the sacred ministry
and to the life in institutes of consecrated life, promoting them not only by
preaching, catechesis and other suitable means, but especially by the witness
of life and ministry.
Canon 381 1. Clerics are to be ardent in apostolic zeal, an example to all in
works of charity and hospitality especially towards the sick, the afflicted, the
persecuted, the exiled and refugees. 2. Unless constrained by a just impediment,
clerics are bound by the obligation to provide assistance to the Christian faithful
out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word of God and the sacraments,
when they ask for them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not
prohibited by law from receiving them. 3. Clerics are to recognize and promote
the dignity of the laity and the particular part which they have in the mission
of the Church, especially by testing the multiform gifts of the laity, and also
by channelling the experience of these lay people for the good of the Church especially
in ways provided by the law.
Canon 382 Clerics are to abstain completely from all those things unbecoming to
their state, according to the norms determined in detail by particular law, and
also to avoid those things which are alien to it.
Canon 383 Even though it is fitting that clerics have the same civil and political
rights as other citizens, nevertheless: (1) they are forbidden to assume public
offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power; (2) since
military service is less appropriate for those in the clerical state, clerics
are not to take it up voluntarily except by permission of their hierarch; (3)
they are to make use of exemption from exercising public functions and offices
alien to the clerical state as well as military service granted in their favor
by civil laws, agreements or customs.
Canon 384 1. As ministers of reconciliation of all in the love of Christ, clerics
are to take measures to foster among all people peace, unity and harmony based
on justice. 2. Clerics are not to have an active part in political parties nor
in the supervision of labor unions unless, in the judgment of the eparchial bishop
or, if particular law so states, of the patriarch or of another authority, the
need to protect the rights of the Church or to promote the common good requires
it.
Canon 385 1. Imbued with Christ's spirit of poverty, clerics are to strive to
lead a simple life and thus to be witnesses to the heavenly goods before the world;
using spiritual discretion let them designate their temporal goods to correct
use; and from the goods they acquire on the occasion of the exercise of an ecclesiastical
office, ministry, or function, let them first provide for their own suitable sustenance
and for the fulfillment of their obligations and then devote and share the rest
in works of the apostolate or of charity. 2. Clerics are forbidden to exercise
by themselves or through another any business or trade whether for their own benefit
or for that of another, except with permission of the authority defined by particular
law or by the Apostolic See. 3. A cleric is forbidden to post bond, even from
his own goods, unless he has consulted his own eparchial bishop or, as the case
may be, the major superior.
Canon 386 1. Clerics, even if they do not have a residential office, nevertheless
are not to leave their eparchy for a notable period of time determined by particular
law without the permission, at least presumed, of their local hierarch. 2. A cleric
who is residing outside his own eparchy is subject to the eparchial bishop in
those matters which regard the obligations of his state of life. If he will reside
there for a lengthy time, he is to inform the local hierarch without delay.
Canon 387 Particular law is to be observed in regard to the attire of clerics.
Canon 388 Clerics to whom have been granted rights and insignia, which are connected
to dignities conferred upon them cannot use them outside the place where the authority
who granted the dignity exercises his authority or upon the granting of the same
dignity written consent was given to use them with no exception, or unless they
accompany the authority who had granted the dignity or represent him or have obtained
the consent of the local hierarch.
Canon 389 Clerics are to strive to avoid any controversies whatever; if however
controversies arise among them, they are to be referred to the forum of the Church
and this should also be done, if possible, even in the case of controversies between
clerics and other Christian faithful.
Canon 390 1. Clerics have the right to a suitable sustenance and to receive a
just remuneration for carrying out the office or function committed to them; in
the case of married clerics, the sustenance of their families, unless this has
been otherwise sufficiently provided, is to be taken into account. 2. They also
have the right that there be provided for themselves as well as for their families,
if they are married, suitable pension funds, social security as well as health
benefits. So that this right can be effectively put into practice clerics are
bound by an obligation on their part to contribute to the fund spoken of in can.
1021, 2 according to the norm of the particular law.
Canon 391 Clerics are free, without prejudice to can. 578, 3, to associate with
others for the purpose of pursuing ends suitable to the clerical state. However,
it belongs to the eparchial bishop to judge authentically concerning this suitability.
Canon 392 Clerics have a right to annual vacations as determined by the particular
law.
Canon 393 Clerics, whatever their condition, are to care in their heart for all
of the Churches, and therefore to serve her wherever there is great necessity;
let them show willingness, especially with the permission or encouragement of
their own eparchial bishop or superior, to exercise their ministry in the missions
or in regions laboring under a shortage of clergy.
Canon 394 After it has been validly received, sacred ordination never becomes
invalid. A cleric, however, loses the clerical state: (1) by a judicial sentence
or administrative decree which declares the invalidity of sacred ordination; (2)
by the legitimate infliction of the penalty of dismissal; (3) by a rescript of
the Apostolic See or in accordance with the norm of can. 397, of the patriarch;
this rescript cannot be granted licitly by the patriarch and is not granted by
the Apostolic See to deacons without serious cause nor to presbyters without most
serious cause.
Canon 395 A cleric who loses the clerical state according to the norm of the law,
loses with it the rights proper to the clerical state nor is he further bound
by the obligations of the clerical state without prejudice, however, to can. 396;
he is forbidden to exercise the power of order without prejudice to cann. 725
and 735, 2; he is by the law itself deprived of all offices, ministries, functions
and any delegated power.
Canon 396 Except for the case in which the invalidity of sacred ordination has
been declared, loss of the clerical state does not carry with it a dispensation
from the obligation of celibacy, which is granted only by the Roman Pontiff.
Canon 397 The patriarch, with the consent of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal
Church or, if there is danger in delay, of the permanent synod, can grant the
removal of the clerical state to clerics having domicile or quasi-domicile within
the territorial boundaries of his own patriarchal Church and who are not bound
by the obligation of clerical celibacy or, if bound, are not petitioning a dispensation
from this obligation; in other cases the matter is to be deferred to the Apostolic
See.
Canon 398 One who has lost the clerical state by rescript of the Apostolic See
can be readmitted among the clerics solely by the Apostolic See; but one who obtained
removal from the clerical state from the patriarch can be readmitted among the
clerics also by the patriarch.
Lay Persons
Canon 399 In this Code, the name of lay persons is applied to the Christian
faithful whose proper and special state is secular and who, living in the world,
participate in the mission of the Church, and are not in holy orders nor enrolled
in the religious state.
Canon 400 In addition to those obligations and rights which are common to all
the Christian faithful and those which are determined in other canons, the lay
Christian faithful have the obligations and possess the rights which are enumerated
in the canons of this title.
Canon 401 It is above all the proper vocation of lay persons to carry out and
to arrange temporal affairs according to God's plan, to seek the kingdom of God
and thus in their private, family, and politico-social lives to be witnesses for
Christ and to manifest Him to others; also, shining in faith, hope and charity,
to strive for just laws in society, and to be like leaven for the sanctification
of the world.
Canon 402 Lay Christian faithful have the right to have recognized that freedom
in the affairs of the earthly city which belongs to all citizens; when they exercise
such freedom, however, they are to take care that their actions are imbued with
the spirit of the gospel and take into account the doctrine set forth by the magisterium
of the Church; but they are to avoid proposing their own opinion as the teaching
of the Church in questions which are open to various opinions.
Canon 403 1. With due regard for the right and obligation to preserve everywhere
their own rite, lay persons have the right to participate actively in the liturgical
celebrations of any Church sui iuris whatsoever, according to the norms of the
liturgical books. 2. If the necessity of the Church and genuine advantage so recommend,
and when sacred ministers are lacking, certain functions of the sacred ministers
may be committed to lay persons, according to the norms of law.
Canon 404 1. In addition to catechetical instruction, which should be received
from infancy, lay persons have the right and obligation of acquiring a knowledge,
suitable to their capacity and condition, of the doctrine revealed by Christ and
taught by the authentic magisterium of the Church, so that they may be able not
only to live according to that doctrine, but also to announce it, and, if need
be, to defend it. 2. Lay persons also possess the right to acquire that deeper
knowledge of the sacred sciences which are taught in ecclesiastical universities
or faculties or in institutes of religious science by attending classes and obtaining
academic degrees. 3. Likewise, the prescriptions as to the required suitability
having been observed, lay persons are qualified to receive a mandate to teach
the sacred sciences from competent ecclesiastical authority.
Canon 405 Lay persons should study zealously their liturgical, spiritual, theological
and disciplinary patrimony, so that mutual goodwill, esteem and unity of action
between the lay members of different Churches sui iuris is fostered, and so that
the variety of rites does not harm the common good of the society in which they
live, but rather may daily lead more to the same good.
Canon 406 Lay persons, aware of the obligation set forth in can. 14, should know
that this obligation has a greater impelling force in those circumstances in which
people can hear the Gospel and know Christ only through them.
Canon 407 Lay persons who live in the married state in accordance with their own
vocation are bound by a special duty to work for the building up of the people
of God through their marriage and their family.
Canon 408 1. Lay persons who excel in the necessary knowledge, experience and
integrity, should be heard as experts or consultors by ecclesiastical authorities,
whether individually or as members of various councils and assemblies, whether
parochial, eparchial or patriarchal. 2. Besides those ecclesiastical functions
to which lay persons are by common law admitted, they may be also admitted by
a competent authority to other functions, excepting those which require holy orders
or which are expressly forbidden to lay persons by the particular law of their
own Church. 3. Lay persons are fully subject to ecclesiastical authority in respect
to the exercise of ecclesiastical functions.
Canon 409 1. Lay persons who devote themselves permanently or temporarily to some
special service of the Church are obliged to acquire the appropriate formation
which is required to fulfill their function properly and to carry it out conscientiously,
zealously, and diligently. 2. They have a right to a decent remuneration suited
to their condition; by such remuneration they should be able to provide decently
for their own needs and for those of their family with due regard for the prescriptions
of civil law; they likewise have a right that their own and their family's pension,
social security and health benefits be duly provided.
TITLE 12 Monks and Other Religious as well as Members of Other Institutes of Consecrated
Life
Canon 410 The religious state is a stable mode of common life in an institute
approved by the Church, in which the Christian faithful, by closer following Christ,
the teacher and exemplar of holiness, under the action of the Holy Spirit, totally
dedicate themselves by a new and special title through public vows of obedience,
chastity and poverty, observed according to the norms of the statutes under a
lawful superior, they renounce the world and totally dedicate themselves to the
acquisition of perfect charity in service to the Kingdom of God for the building
up of the Church and the salvation of the world as a sign of the foretelling of
heavenly glory.
Canon 411 The religious state shall be encouraged and promoted by all.
Canon 412 1. All religious are subject to the Roman Pontiff as their supreme superior,
being bound by the obligation to obey him also in virtue of the vow of obedience.
2. In order to provide better for the welfare of institutes and for the needs
of the apostolate, the Roman Pontiff can by reason of his primacy over the universal
Church, contemplating the common welfare, exempt institutes of consecrated life
from the rule of the eparchial bishop and subject them to him alone or to another
ecclesiastical authority.
Canon 413 Religious institutes are subject with respect to internal rule and
religious discipline, unless law provides otherwise, directly and exclusively
to the Apostolic See if they are of pontifical right; if they are of patriarchal
or eparchial right, they are directly subject to the patriarch or eparchial bishop,
with due regard for can. 418, 2.
Canon 414 1. With respect to monasteries and congregations of eparchial right,
it pertains to the eparchial bishop: (1) to approve typicon of monasteries and
statutes of congregations, and to approve changes introduced into them in accordance
with the norm of law, except those which had been approved by a higher authority;
(2) to grant dispensations that exceed the power of the religious superiors from
the same typicon or statutes, when lawfully requested from him, in single cases
and for individual occasions only; (3) to make a visitation of monasteries, including
dependent ones, as well as of each house of congregations located in his territory,
whenever he conducts a canonical visitation there as well as when truly special
reasons require it according to his judgment. 2. These rights pertain to the patriarch
with respect to orders and congregations of patriarchal right which have their
headquarters within the territorial boundaries of the Church over which he presides;
otherwise the same rights with respect to all orders, as well as to monasteries
and congregations which are not of eparchial right, belong to the Apostolic See
alone. 3. When a congregation of eparchial right has extended itself to other
eparchies, nothing can validly be changed in the statutes, except by the consent
of the eparchial bishop of the eparchy where the principal house is located, however,
after consultation with the eparchial bishops in whose eparchies the other houses
are located.
Canon 415 1. All religious are subject to the authority of the local hierarch
in matters which pertain to the public celebration of divine worship, to the preaching
of the word of God to the people, to the religious and moral education of the
Christian faithful, especially of children, to catechetical and liturgical instruction
and to what becomes the clerical state, as well as to various works of the apostolate.
2. It is the right and duty of the eparchial bishop to make a visitation of each
monastery and of houses of orders and congregations in his territory in respect
to the matters mentioned in 1 as often as he conducts a
Canonical visitation there or whenever he judges that grave reasons suggest
it. 3. The eparchial bishop can entrust apostolic work or duties pertaining to
the eparchy to religious only with the consent of the competent superiors, without
prejudice to common law and with observance of the religious discipline of the
institutes safeguarding their own character and specific purpose. 4. Religious
who committed a delict outside their house and have not been punished by their
proper superior and who have been warned by the local hierarch, can be punished
by that hierarch even if they have lawfully left and have returned to the house.
Canon 416 Patriarchs as well as local hierarchs shall foster meetings with
the superiors of religious at stated times or whenever this appears appropriate
in order that the apostolate exercised by the members may be carried out in common
concert and harmony.
Canon 417 If abuses have crept into houses of institutes of patriarchal or of
pontifical right or in their churches, and the superior, warned by the local hierarch,
has failed to take care of it, the same local hierarch is obliged to defer the
matter without delay to the attention of the authority to which the institute
is immediately subject.
Canon 418 1. Major superiors are: the president of a monastic confederation, the
superior of a monastery sui iuris, the superior general of an order or congregation,
the provincial superior, their vicars and others who have power corresponding
to provincials, and also those who, if the aforementioned are missing, in the
meantime legitimately succeed them in office. 2. Under the designation of superior
of monks and other religious does not come either the local hierarch or the patriarch,
without prejudice to the canons which assign power over them to the patriarch
or to the local hierarch.
Canon 419 1. The president of a monastic confederation, the superior of a non-confederated
monastery sui iuris, the superior general of the order or congregation, are obliged
to forward a report on the state of the institutes which they head to the authority
to which they are immediately subject at least every five years, according to
the form prescribed by the same authority. 2. Superiors of institutes of eparchial
or patriarchal right shall send a copy of their report to the Apostolic See.
Canon 420 1. Major superiors who are designated as visitators by the typicon of
monasteries or statutes of orders and congregations, shall make a visitation at
the times determined in them of all houses subject to them in person or through
another if they are legitimately impeded. 2. The members shall trust the visitator,
and they are obliged to respond according to the truth in charity to lawful questioning;
and indeed, no one has the right to divert the members from this obligation by
any means or to hinder the object of the visitation in any manner. 3. The local
hierarch must visit all religious houses, if the major superior who has the right
of visitation has not made a visitation after five years, and after being warned
by the local hierarch, still has neglected to visit them.
Canon 421 Superiors are bound by a grave obligation to take care that the members
committed to them conduct their lives in accordance with the proper typicon or
statutes; superiors shall help the members by example and exhortation in pursuing
the purpose of the religious state, and they are to make suitable provision for
their personal needs, to care zealously for the sick and to visit them, to reprove
the unruly, to console the fainthearted, and to be patient towards all.
Canon 422 1. Superiors are to have their own permanent council, established according
to the norm of the typicon or statutes, whose cooperation they are to employ in
exercising their office. In cases prescribed by the law they are obliged to seek
its consent or counsel in accordance with the norm of can. 934. 2. Particular
law shall provide whether in houses of less than six members a council shall be
established or not.
Canon 423 A monastery, monastic confederation, order and congregation and their
provinces and houses, legitimately erected, are by the law itself juridic persons.
Their capacity, however, of acquiring, possessing, administering or alienating
temporal property can be excluded or limited by the typicon or statutes.
Canon 424 In the typicon or statutes norms shall be established for the use and
the administration of property which promote, express and protect the their own
form of poverty.
Canon 425 The temporal property of religious institutes is governed by cann. 1007-1054,
unless common law provides otherwise or it appears otherwise from the nature of
the matter.
Canon 426 Each and every religious, whether superior or subject, is obliged not
only to observe faithfully and integrally the vows which they have professed,
but also to arrange his or her life according to the typicon or statutes thus
having faithfully observed the intention and determinations of the founder, and
so tend to the perfection of his or her state.
Canon 427 Each and every religious is bound by the obligations to which clerics
are obliged by common law, unless the law provides otherwise or it appears otherwise
from the nature of the matter.
Canon 428 A member in perpetual vows is enrolled in the religious institute as
a cleric by ordination as a deacon, or, in case of a cleric already enrolled in
an eparchy, by perpetual profession.
Canon 429 Letters of religious to their superiors and also to the local hierarch,
patriarch, legate of the Roman Pontiff, and the Apostolic See, as well as the
letters which they themselves receive from them, are not subject to any inspection.
Canon 430 It is not permitted to confer on religious merely honorific titles of
dignities or offices; unless the typicon or statutes permit this in regard to
the title of major superior which the religious already has exercised.
Canon 431 1. Without the written consent of the major superior, a religious cannot
be promoted after the first vows to dignities or offices outside the institute,
except those which are conferred in an election by the synod of bishops of a patriarchal
Church and without prejudice to can. 89, 2; having fulfilled the function, the
religious must return to the monastery, order or congregation. 2. A religious
who becomes a patriarch, bishop or exarch: (1) remains bound by the vows and by
the other obligations of his profession, except those which he himself prudently
judges incompatible with his dignity. He lacks active and passive voice in his
own monastery, order or congregation, and is not subject to the authority of the
superiors, and remains subject in virtue of the vow of obedience only to the Roman
Pontiff; (2) however, having fulfilled the office (munus), he is to return to
his monastery, order or congregation, without prejudice to what is specified in
cann. 62 and 211, he can possess active and passive voice, if the typicon or statutes
permit it. 3. A religious who becomes a patriarch, bishop or exarch: (1) if through
profession he lost the capacity of acquiring the ownership of goods, he has the
use, usufruct and administration of goods which come to him; whatever a patriarch,
eparchial bishop, or exarch acquires, he acquires for the patriarchal Church,
eparchy, or exarchy; all others, for the monastery or order; (2) if through profession
he did not lose the ownership of goods, he regains the use, usufruct, and administration
of the goods which he had; he fully acquires for himself those which come to him
afterwards; (3) in either case he must dispose of the goods coming to him according
to the will of the donors when they do not come to him for personal reasons.
Canon 432 A dependent monastery, a house or province of a religious institute
of any Church sui iuris, also of the Latin Church, which with the approval of
the Apostolic See is attached to another Church sui iuris, must observe the prescriptions
of this latter Church, save for the prescriptions of the typicon or statutes which
refer to the internal governance of this religious institute and the privileges
granted by the Apostolic See.
Canon 433 1. A monastery is a religious house in which the members strive toward
evangelical perfection by the observation of the rules and traditions of monastic
life. 2. A monastery sui iuris is one which does not depend on another one and
which is governed by its own typicon approved by competent authority.
Canon 434 A monastery is of pontifical right if it was erected by the Apostolic
See or recognized as such by its decree; of patriarchal right if it is a stauropegial
one; of eparchial right if it was erected by the bishop but has not obtained a
decree of recognition from the Apostolic See.
Canon 435 1. The eparchial bishop is competent to erect a monastery sui iuris,
having consulted the patriarch within the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal
Church, or, in other instances, the Apostolic See. 2. It is reserved to the patriarch
to erect a stauropegial monastery.
Canon 436 1. Every monastery sui iuris can have dependent monasteries, among which
some are called filial if, according to their own act of erection or to the decree
given according to the typicon, they can be likened to monasteries sui iuris;
otherwise they are called subsidiary. 2. For the valid erection of a dependent
monastery, the written consent of the authorities to which the monastery sui iuris
is subject and of the eparchial bishop where the monastery is to be a erected,
is required.
Canon 437 1. The permission for erecting a monastery, even a dependent one, includes
with it the permission to have a church and to perform sacred ministries as well
as to carry out religious works proper to the monastery in accordance with the
norm of the typicon, without prejudice to the conditions lawfully stipulated in
the document of erection. 2. Written permission of the eparchial bishop is required
in the case of any monastery for the construction and opening of schools, guest-houses
or similar buildings distinct from the monastery. 3. In order to convert a monastery
to other uses, the same formalities are required as for erecting it, except when
it concerns a conversion that concerns only the internal governance and religious
discipline.
Canon 438 1. The patriarch is competent to suppress, within the territorial boundaries
of the Church over which he presides, a monastery sui iuris or a filial one of
eparchial right or a stauropegial one, for a grave reason, with the consent of
the permanent synod and at the request of, or after having consulted, the eparchial
bishop if the monastery is of eparchial right, and after having consulted the
superior of the monastery, and the president of the confederation should the monastery
be confederated, save for the right of suspensive recourse to the Roman Pontiff.
2. Other monasteries sui iuris or filial monasteries can be suppressed only by
the Apostolic See. 3. A subsidiary monastery can be suppressed by a decree given
by the superior of the monastery on which it depends in accordance with the norms
of the typicon, with the prior consent of the eparchial bishop. 4. The property
of a suppressed monastery sui iuris reverts to the confederation if it was confederated;
otherwise upon the eparchy, or, if it was stauropegial, upon the patriarchal Church.
The property of a suppressed dependent monastery devolves upon the monastery sui
iuris. To decide on the property of a monastery of papal right is reserved to
the Apostolic See, without prejudice in all instances to the will of the donors.
Canon 439 1. Several monasteries sui iuris subject to the same eparchial bishop
may form a confederation with the written consent of the eparchial bishop, who
is also entitled to approve the statutes of the confederation. 2. The confederation
of several monasteries sui iuris of different eparchies or of stauropegial monasteries
located within the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church may be established
after consultation with the eparchial bishops who have an interest, with the consent
of the patriarch, to whom is also reserved the approval of the constitutions of
the confederation. 3. In other instances, the Apostolic See is to be approached
for the establishment of a confederation.
Canon 440 1. The aggregation of a non-confederated monastery sui iuris to, or
the withdrawal from a confederation is reserved to the same authority spoken of
in can. 439. 2. A confederation, however, within the territorial boundaries of
a patriarchal Church can be suppressed only by the patriarch, with the consent
of the synod of bishops of the patriarchal Church, after consultation with the
eparchial bishops who have an interest, and of the president of the confederation,
without prejudice to suspensive recourse to the Roman Pontiff; the suppression
of other confederations is reserved to the Apostolic See, 3. It is reserved to
the authority which suppressed the confederation to dispose of the property that
belongs to the suppressed confederation, without prejudice to the will of the
donors; in such a case the patriarch needs the consent of the permanent synod.
Canon 441 1. In monasteries superiors and synaxes have that power which is determined
in the common law and the typicon. 2. Superiors in monasteries sui iuris have
power of governance insofar as it is expressly granted to them in law or by the
authority to which they are subject, without prejudice to can. 979. 3. Beyond
what is determined by common law, the power of the president of a monastic confederation
must be determined in the statutes of the same confederation.
Canon 442 Without prejudice to the typicon of the monastery requiring more, in
order that a person be capable to assume the office of superior of a monastery
sui iuris, it is required that the person be perpetually professed, be professed
at least ten years, and is at least forty years old.
Canon 443 1. The superior of a monastery sui iuris is to be elected by the synaxis
convened according to the norms of the typicon and having observed cann. 947-960,
without prejudice to the right of the bishop of the eparchy to preside at the
synaxis of election in person or through another. 2. At the synaxis of election
of the superior of a confederate monastery sui iuris, the president of the confederation
presides over the election in person or through another.
Canon 444 1. The office of superior of a monastery sui iuris is conferred for
an indeterminate time, unless the typicon states otherwise. 2. Unless the typicon
prescribes otherwise, superiors of dependent monasteries are appointed by the
superior of the monastery sui iuris for a time determined in the typicon itself,
with the consent of the council if the monastery is filial, but after consulting
the council if it is a subsidiary one. 3. Superiors who have completed the seventy-fifth
year of age, or who have become less capable of fulfilling the duties of their
office because of failing health or some other grave cause, shall submit a resignation
from office to the synaxis, which is to accept it.
Canon 445 Members of the synaxis of election shall seriously strive to elect those
whom they know for sure before the Lord as being truly worthy and suited for the
office of superior, abstaining from any abuse whatever, especially from procuring
votes for themselves or for others.
Canon 446 The superior shall reside in the monastery and shall not be absent from
it except according to the norm of the typicon.
Canon 447 1. There shall be a finance officer for the administration of temporal
property in a monastery, who shall discharge this office under the direction of
the superior. 2. The superior of a monastery sui iuris shall not perform at the
same time the duties of finance officer; the duties of finance officer of a dependent
monastery, however, although it is better that it be separated from the office
of superior, may nevertheless by joined with it if necessity demands it. 3. The
finance officer is appointed by the superior of the monastery sui iuris with the
consent of the council unless the typicon states otherwise.
Canon 448 For one to be admitted into a monastery sui iuris it is required
that the person is moved by the right intention, is suited for leading a monastic
life and is not prevented by any impediment established by the law.
Canon 449 Before being admitted to the novitiate, a candidate is to live in the
monastery under the special care of an experienced monk for a period of time specified
in the typicon.
Canon 450 Without prejudice to prescriptions of the typicon which require more,
the following cannot be validly admitted to the novitiate: (1) non-Catholics;
(2) those who have been punished with canonical penalties except those mentioned
in can. 1426, 1; (3) those, who are under imminent threat of a serious penalty
on account of a crime of which they are legitimately accused; (4) those who are
under 18 years of age, except if it is the case of a monastery which has temporary
profession, in which instance 17 years of age is sufficient; (5) those who are
entering the monastery induced by force, grave fear or by fraud or those, who
are admitted by a superior induced in the same way; (6) spouses, during a marriage;
(7) those who are held by the bond of religious profession or by another sacred
bond to an institute of consecrated life, unless it is a case of lawful transfer.
Canon 451 No one can be admitted licitly to the novitiate of a monastery of
another Church sui iuris without the permission of the Apostolic See, unless it
is the case of candidates who are destined for a dependent monastery of their
own Church as mentioned in can. 432.
Canon 452 1. Clerics enrolled in an eparchy cannot be licitly admitted to the
novitiate without consulting their own eparchial bishop nor can they be admitted
licitly, if the eparchial bishop objects to it because their departure will result
in grave harm to souls which cannot be prevented otherwise; or if it concerns
those who are destined to the priesthood in a monastery but are restrained by
some impediment established in law. 2. Likewise, parents whose help is necessary
in raising and educating children cannot be licitly admitted to the monastery,
as well as children who are obligated to assist a father or mother, a grandfather
or grand-mother who are in great need, unless the monastery has provided otherwise
for this.
Canon 453 1. It is the superior of an monastery sui iuris who admits to the
novitiate after having consulted the council. 2. Superiors themselves must make
certain of the suitability and the full freedom of a candidate in choosing the
monastic state by using appropriate means. 3. In respect to the submission of
documents as well as the various testimonials concerning their good conduct and
suitability, the prescriptions of the typicon shall be followed.
Canon 454 Norms are to be determined in the typicon concerning the dowry, where
it is required to be furnished by aspirants, to be administered under the special
supervision of the local hierarch, as well as in respect to the restitution of
the entire dowry, without the income already accrued, to one who is leaving the
monastery for whatever reason.
Canon 455 The novitiate begins with the reception of the monastic habit or in
any other manner prescribed in the typicon.
Canon 456 1. A monastery sui iuris can have its own novices who shall be initiated
into monastic life in the same monastery under the direction of a suitable member.
2. In order that the novitiate be valid, it must be performed in the monastery
sui iuris itself, or, by a decision of the superior, after consulting the council,
in another monastery sui iuris of the same confederation. 3. If a monastery sui
iuris, whether a confederated one or a non-confederated one, cannot comply with
the prescriptions on the formation of novices, the superior is obliged to send
the aspirants to another monastery in which the same prescriptions are conscientiously
observed.
Canon 457 1. In order that the novitiate be valid, it must last for three full
and continuous years, but in monasteries in which a temporary profession precedes
final profession, one year is sufficient. 2. In every year of the novitiate, an
absence of three months, continuous or with interruptions, does not affect the
validity of the novitiate, but the unfinished time must be made up, unless it
does not exceed fifteen days. 3. The novitiate shall not be extended beyond three
years, without prejudice to can. 461, 2.
Canon 458 1. The formation of the novices is to be entrusted as to a director
in accordance with the norms of the typicon to a member distinguished by prudence,
charity, piety, knowledge and experience in the observance of monastic life, professed
for at least ten years. 2. The rights and duties of this director, especially
in respect to the manner of formation of the novices, as well as to the director's
relations to the synaxis and the superior of the monastery, are to be determined
in the typicon.
Canon 459 1. Constantly during the novitiate the hearts of novices are to be fashioned
under the leadership of the director in the study of the typicon, in pious meditations
and assiduous prayer, so that they may thoroughly learn what pertains to the vows
and the virtues, to engage in suitable exercises to root out vices in order to
curb the movements of the soul and to acquire virtues. 2. During the novitiate,
novices shall not be assigned to tasks outside the monastery nor engage in the
regular study of letters, science or the arts.
Canon 460 A novice cannot validly renounce his or her property in any manner whatever
nor can a novice burden it with obligations, with due regard for can. 467, 1.
Canon 461 1. A novice can freely leave the monastery sui iuris or be dismissed
for a just cause by the superiors or the synaxis in accordance with the typicon.
2. When the novitiate is completed, a novice shall be admitted to profession if
judged suitable, otherwise the novice is to be dismissed. If a doubt remains whether
a novice is suitable, the time of novitiate can be prolonged in accordance with
the norms of the typicon but not beyond one year.
Canon 462 1. The monastic state is definitively assumed with perpetual profession,
which includes the three perpetual vows of obedience, chastity and poverty. 2.
In the making of profession the prescriptions of the typicon and the liturgical
books shall be observed.
Canon 463 The typicon of the monastery shall be observed in what pertains to the
different degrees of monastic profession, with due regard for the juridic force
of the profession according to common law.
Canon 464 For the validity of perpetual monastic profession it is required: (1)
that the novitiate has been validly completed; (2) that the novice be admitted
to profession by the superior of the proper monastery sui iuris with the consent
of the council, and that the profession be received by the same superior in person
or by another; (3) that the profession be expressed and made without force, grave
fear or fraud; (4) that other requirements in the typicon for the validity of
the profession be fulfilled.
Canon 465 What is prescribed in common law for temporary profession has force
also with respect to monasteries in which such a profession in accordance with
the typicon precedes perpetual profession.
Canon 466 Perpetual monastic profession renders acts that are contrary to the
vows invalid if the acts can be nullified.
Canon 467 1. A candidate for perpetual monastic profession must, within sixty
days prior to the profession, renounce in favor of whomever the candidate prefers
all goods which he or she actually possesses on condition that the profession
subsequently takes place; a renunciation made before this time is by the law itself
invalid. 2. As soon as the profession has been made, all necessary steps shall
be taken at once in order that the renunciation become effective also in civil
law.
Canon 468 1. Any temporal goods whatsoever which accrue to the member after perpetual
profession in virtue of any title are acquired by the monastery. 2. The monastery
is responsible for the debts and obligations which the member incurred after final
profession with the permission of the superior. If, however, the member incurred
debts without permission of the superior, the member must be held responsible.
3. It shall be a fixed rule that an action can always be brought against one who
has profited from the contract entered into.
Canon 469 Having made perpetual profession, a member loses by the law itself whatever
offices he or she may have held as well as his own eparchy, and is joined to the
monastery with the full effects of law.
Canon 470 The document certifying that perpetual profession has been made, signed
by the member and by the one who received the profession, even by delegation,
shall be preserved in the archives of the monastery. The superior of the monastery
sui iuris is to notify as soon as possible the pastor with whom the baptism of
the professed is recorded.
Canon 471 1. The manner of formation of members is to be determined in the typicon
in such a way that they be permanently motivated to aim more fully toward holiness
of life as well as that their abilities be developed through the study of sacred
doctrine and the acquisition of human culture in accordance with the needs of
the time, and that they thereby become more adept in the arts and tasks which
are legitimately undertaken by the monastery. 2. The formation of monks destined
for sacred orders is to proceed according to the plan of formation of clerics
prescribed in can. 330 in the monastery itself, if it has a facility of studies
set up according to can. 340, 1, or under the direction of an experienced moderator
in another seminary or institute of higher studies approved by ecclesiastical
authority.
Canon 472 The superior of a monastery sui iuris can grant dimissorial letters
for sacred orders to his members, after they have made perpetual profession, and
in accordance with the norm of the typicon. These letters are to be sent to the
local eparchial bishop where the monastery is located, even if it is a dependent
monastery, or, if it is a stauropegial monastery, to the bishop designated by
the patriarch.
Canon 473 1. In individual monasteries the divine praises are to be celebrated
daily according to the typicon and legitimate customs. Likewise, the Divine Liturgy
shall be celebrated on all days except those which are excluded by the prescriptions
of the liturgical books. 2. The superiors of monasteries shall take care that
all members, in accordance with the typicon: (1) who are not lawfully prevented
take part daily in the divine praises and Divine Liturgy when they are celebrated,
take time for contemplation of divine things, and diligently apply themselves
to other exercises of piety; (2) can freely and often approach spiritual fathers
and confessors; (3) make a spiritual retreat for several days every year.
Canon 474 1. The members of monasteries shall receive the sacrament of penance
often in accordance with the norm of the typicon. 2. Without prejudice to the
typicon advising that confession be made to certain confessors, all members of
the monastery can without interference with the discipline of the monastery, receive
the sacrament of penance from any priest possessing the faculty to administer
this sacrament.
Canon 475 1. In each monastery, in accordance with the number of members, several
spiritual fathers and confessors shall be assigned by the superior of the monastery,
if it is the case of priest-monks of the same monastery who have the faculty of
administering the sacrament of penance; otherwise by the local hierarch, after
he has heard the superior of the monastery sui iuris, who before that must consult
with the interested community. 2. For monasteries in which there are no priest-monks,
the local hierarch shall designate in the same manner a priest who will regularly
celebrate the Divine Liturgy and preach the word of God in the monastery, with
due regard for can. 612, 2.
Canon 476 Members of the monastery, whether within or outside the monastery, are
to wear the monastic habit prescribed by their own typicon.
Canon 477 1. The enclosure shall be observed in monasteries in the manner prescribed
in the typicon, without prejudice to the right of the superior to admit, in individual
instances and for a grave reason, into parts subject to the enclosure persons
of the other gender other than those who may enter the enclosure in accordance
with the typicon. 2. The parts of the monastery subject to the law of enclosure
shall be clearly indicated. 3. It is up to the superior of a monastery sui iuris,
with the consent of the council and after notifying the local hierarch, to prescribe
precisely the boundaries of the enclosure or to change them for just reasons.
Canon 478 The superior of the monastery may permit that members stay outside the
monastery for a time determined in the typicon. However, for an absence which
exceeds one year, unless it is for reason of study or illness, the permission
is required of the authority to whom the monastery is subject.
Canon 479 If, in the judgment of the local hierarch, the assistance of monasteries
is needed in the catechetical instruction of the people, all superiors, when requested
by that hierarch, must provide such instruction to the people themselves or through
others in their own churches.
Canon 480 A parish cannot be established in the church of a monastery, nor can
monks be appointed pastors without the permission of the patriarch within the
territorial boundaries of the Church over which he presides, or in other cases,
of the Apostolic See.
Canon 481 A hermit is a member of a monastery sui iuris who has given himself
or herself totally into heavenly contemplation and who is totally separated from
people and the world.
Canon 482 In order to undertake the life of a hermit, it is necessary that the
member has obtained the permission of the superior of the monastery sui iuris
to which the member belongs, given with the consent of the council, and has lived
in a monastery at least six years calculated from the day of perpetual profession.
Canon 483 The place where the hermit lives is to be designated by the superior
of the monastery and is in a special manner separated from the world and from
other parts of the monastery; but if the place is situated outside the territory
of the monastery, the written consent of the local hierarch is also required.
Canon 484 The hermit depends on the superior of the monastery and is obliged by
the canons on monks and the typicon of the monastery insofar as they can be reconciled
with life as a hermit.
Canon 485 The superior of the monastery sui iuris has the authority, with the
consent of the council, to terminate the eremitical life for just reasons, even
against the wish of the hermit.
Canon 486 1. The patriarch can for a grave reason, having consulted the eparchial
bishop and with the consent of the permanent synod, concede the status of a stauropegial
monastery in the very act of foundation of a monastery sui iuris. 2. The stauropegial
monastery is directly subject to the patriarch in such a way that only he himself
enjoys the rights and obligations of an eparchial bishop toward the monastery,
the members assigned to it, as well as the persons who day and night dwell in
the monastery. Other persons, however, connected with the monastery are subject
directly and exclusively to the patriarch only in those aspects which concern
their duties and offices.
Canon 487 1. A member cannot transfer from one monastery sui iuris to another
of the same confederation without written permission of the president of the confederation.
2. For a transfer from a non-confederated monastery to another monastery subject
to the same authority, the permission of the same authority is required; but if
the monastery to which the transfer is sought is subject to another authority,
the permission of this authority is also required. 3. The patriarch, the eparchial
bishop and the president of the confederation cannot grant this permission except
after having consulted the superior of the monastery sui iuris from which the
transfer is sought. 4. For a valid transfer to a monastery of another Church sui
iuris the permission of the Apostolic See is required. 5. The transfer occurs
by the admission of the superior of the new monastery sui iuris with the consent
of the synaxis.
Canon 488 1. The one who transfers to another monastery sui iuris of the same
confederation does not make the novitiate nor make a new profession, and from
the day of the transfer he loses all rights and is released from the obligations
towards the previous monastery and takes on the rights and duties of the second,
and is enrolled in it as a cleric, if he is a cleric. 2. The one who transfers
from one monastery sui iuris to another monastery sui iuris that does not belong
to any confederation or belongs to a different one shall observe the prescription
of the typicon of the monastery to which he or she transfers in respect to the
obligation to make a novitiate and profession. If there is no provision for it
in the typicon, the person does not make the novitiate nor a new profession, but
the effects take place from the day of transfer, unless the superior of the monastery
requires the person to go through some probationary period, not longer than a
year, in the new monastery. When the probationary time has passed, he or she either
shall be enrolled permanently in the new monastery by the Superior with the consent
of the council or synaxis in accordance with the typicon, or shall return to the
previous monastery. 3. In the transfer from a monastery sui iuris to an order
or congregation cann. 544 and 545 are to be observed, with the necessary adaptations.
4. The monastery sui iuris from which the member transferred keeps the goods which
had been already acquired by it because of or through the member. In respect to
a dowry, it belongs to the monastery to which transfer occurs, from the day of
the transfer, without the revenues that have accrued.
Canon 489 1. The indult of exclaustration can be granted only to a member of
a monastery sui iuris who is in perpetual vows. When this member petitions, the
indult can be granted by the authority to whom the monastery is subject after
hearing the superior of the monastery sui iuris along with the council. 2. The
eparchial bishop can grant this indult only for up to three years.
Canon 490 Exclaustration can be imposed by the authority to which the monastery
is subject, at the request of the superior of the monastery sui iuris with the
consent of the council, for grave reasons and with observance of equity and charity.
Canon 491 The exclaustrated member remains bound by the vows and other obligations
of the monastic profession which are compatible with his or her condition; the
member must put off the monastic habit; during the time of the exclaustration
he or she lacks active and passive voice and is subject to the eparchial bishop
of the place where he or she dwells in place of the superior of his or her own
monastery also in virtue of the vow of obedience.
Canon 492 1. The perpetually professed member shall not request the indult to
leave the monastery and return to secular life except for the most grave reasons,
pondered before the Lord. A petition shall be submitted to the superior of the
monastery sui iuris, who shall forward it, together with his or her votum and
that of the council, to the Apostolic See. 2. An indult of this kind is reserved
to the Apostolic See.
Canon 493 1. The indult of leaving the monastery and returning to secular life
that has been lawfully granted and communicated to the member carries with it
by the law itself, unless it was repudiated by the member at the moment of notification,
the dispensation from the vows as well as from all obligations arising from profession,
but not from the ones that are attached to a sacred order if he is in sacred orders.
2. If a member who had left a monastery and returned to secular life is again
received into the monastery, he shall go through the novitiate and profession
again as if he or she had never been in religious life.
Canon 494 1. A monk in perpetual vows who is in sacred orders, if he has obtained
the indult of departure from the monastery and returns to the world, cannot exercise
sacred orders until he has found a benevolent eparchial bishop to receive him.
2. The eparchial bishop can receive him either unconditionally or on a trial basis
for five years. In the first instance, the monk is thereby enrolled in the eparchy
by the law itself; in the other case, after the completion of five years unless
he was prior to that expressly dismissed.
Canon 495 A member who, after making profession, has unlawfully left the monastery,
must without delay return to it. The superiors must solicitously seek such members
out and receive them back if they return moved by sincere penitence; otherwise,
they shall be punished according the norm of law, even with dismissal.
Canon 496 1. One who during temporary profession wishes to leave the monastery
for a grave reason and return to the world, shall submit a petition to the superior
of the monastery sui iuris. 2. The superior shall forward this petition, together
with his or her votum and that of the council, to the eparchial bishop whose competence
it is, even for a monastery of pontifical right, to grant in this instance the
indult of departure from the monastery and return to secular life, unless particular
law reserves this to the patriarch in monasteries located within the territorial
boundaries of a patriarchal Church.
Canon 497 1. A member shall be held dismissed from the monastery by the law itself,
who: (1) has publicly rejected the Catholic faith; (2) has celebrated or attempted
marriage, even only a civil one. 2. The superior of the monastery sui iuris, having
consulted the council, shall in such cases without delay, after collecting the
proofs, issue a declaration on the facts so that the dismissal is juridically
established, and he or she shall inform the authority to whom the monastery is
immediately subject of this as soon as possible.
Canon 498 1. A member who is the cause of very grave imminent external scandal
or harm to the monastery, can be expelled at once from the monastery, by the superior
with the consent of the council, having immediately put off the monastic habit.
2. The superior of the monastery sui iuris, if the case warrants it, shall see
to it that the dismissal procedure progresses in accordance with the law, or shall
defer the matter to the authority to which the monastery is subject. 3. A member
expelled from the monastery who has received a sacred order is forbidden to exercise
the order unless the authority to whom the monastery is subject has decided otherwise.
Canon 499 A member can be dismissed during temporary profession by the superior
of the monastery sui iuris with the consent of the council according to can. 552,
2 and 3, but, for validity, the dismissal must be confirmed by the eparchial bishop,
or by the patriarch if particular law decrees it for monasteries situated within
the territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church.
Canon 500 1. For the dismissal of a perpetually professed member, with due regard
for can. 497, the president of the monastic confederation or the superior of a
no-confederated monastery sui iuris is competent to issue a decree of dismissal,
either of them with the consent of the council, which in this instance must be
composed for validity of at least five members, including the presiding superior,
in such a way that if the number of ordinary councilors is insufficient or they
are absent, others are to be called in accordance with the typicon or the statutes
of the confederation; the voting, however, must be done secretly. 2. In order
to decide on dismissal, in addition to other conditions possibly stipulated in
the typicon, it is required for validity: (1) that there is a lack of reform and
the reasons for dismissal are grave, culpable and juridically proven; (2) that
the dismissal was preceded, unless the nature of the reason for dismissal precludes
it, by two warnings with the formal threat of dismissal, which were to no avail;
)3) that the reasons for dismissal were presented in writing to the member, granting
the member, after each warning, full opportunity of defence; (4) that the available
time established by the typicon has elapsed since the last warning. 3. The written
responses of the member, shall be attached to the acts which are to be submitted
to those mentioned in 1. 4. The decree of dismissal cannot be executed unless
it is approved by the authority to whom the monastery is immediately subject.
Canon 501 1. The decree of dismissal shall be communicated as soon as possible
to the interested member. 2. The member can, within ten days, either have recourse
with suspensive effect, or, unless the decree of dismissal has been confirmed
by the Apostolic See, demand that the case be tried in judicial proceedings. 3.
The decision about the recourse against the decree of dismissal belongs to the
Apostolic See, or, if it is a member who has domicile within the territorial boundaries
of the patriarchal Church, to the patriarch. 4. If the case is to be treated in
a judicial proceeding, it is to be done by the tribunal of the authority immediately
superior to the one which has confirmed the decree of dismissal. The superior
who has rendered the decree of dismissal shall hand over the acts collected in
the matter to this tribunal and the case shall be processed according to the canons
on penal trial without the possibility of appeal.
Canon 502 By lawful dismissal, excluding that one mentioned in can. 497, all
bonds as well as obligations stemming from monastic profession cease by the law
itself; and if the member had been promoted to a sacred order, can. 494 is to
be observed.
Canon 503 1. One who lawfully departs or who was lawfully dismissed from the monastery
cannot claim anything from it for any kind of work performed therein. 2. The monastery,
however, shall extend equitable and evangelical charity toward a member who is
being separated from it.
Canon 504 1. An order is a society erected by competent ecclesiastical authority
in which the members, although they are not monks, make a profession which is
equivalent to monastic profession. 2. A congregation is a society erected by competent
ecclesiastical authority in which the members make the three public vows of obedience,
chastity and poverty, which however are not equivalent to monastic profession,
but have their own force according to the law.
Canon 505 1. An order is of pontifical right if it is erected by the Apostolic
See or recognized as such by a decree of the same; of patriarchal right, if it
has not obtained the decree of recognition from the Apostolic See. 2. A congregation
is: (1) of pontifical right, if it is erected by the Apostolic See or recognized
as such by a decree of the same; (2) of patriarchal right if, erected by the patriarch
or recognized as such by his decree, and it has not obtained a decree of recognition
from the Apostolic See; (3) of eparchial right if, erected by the eparchial bishop,
and it has not obtained a decree of recognition from the Apostolic See or from
the patriarch. 3. An order or a congregation is called clerical when, on account
of the object or purpose intended by the founder or in virtue of lawful custom,
under the direction of presbyters, it exercises the ministry proper to sacred
orders, and is recognized as such by ecclesiastical authority.
Canon 506 1. The eparchial bishop can erect only congregations, but he shall not
erect them without consulting the Apostolic See, and, in addition, within the
territorial boundaries of a patriarchal Church, without consulting the patriarch.
2. The patriarch can erect orders and congregations with the consent of the permanent
synod and after consulting the Apostolic See. 3. A congregation of eparchial right
which, within the territorial boundaries of patriarchal Church, has spread to
several eparchies of the same territory can become of patriarchal right by a decree
of the patriarch, after he has consulted interested parties and he has obtained
the consent of the permanent synod.
Canon 507 1. An order, even of patriarchal right, lawfully erected, although consisting
of only one house, cannot be suppressed except by the Apostolic See, and to which
it is also reserved to dispose of the property of the suppressed order, without
prejudice to the wishes of the donors. 2. A congregation of patriarchal or eparchial
right, lawfully erected, although consisting of only one house, can be suppressed,
besides by the Apostolic See, by the patriarch, within the territorial boundaries
of the Church over which he presides, after consultation with interested parties
and with the consent of the permanent synod and of the Apostolic See.
Canon 508 1. A province is a part of the same order or congregation, consisting
of several houses, and which a major superior rules directly. 2. To divide an
order or congregation into provinces, to unite established provinces or to modify
their boundaries, to erect new ones or to suppress erected ones, pertains to the
authority determined by the statutes of the order or congregation. 3. To make
provisions concerning the property of suppressed provinces, with due regard to
justice and the wishes of the donors, pertains, unless the statutes direct otherwise,
to the general synaxis, or, in urgent necessity, to the superior general with
the consent of the council.
Canon 509 1. An order or congregation cannot validly erect a house without the
written consent of the eparchial bishop. If it is the case of erecting the first
house of an order or congregation of patriarchal right in some eparchy, the consent
of the patriarch is required within the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal
Church, or in other cases, the consent of the Apostolic See. 2. The matters mentioned
in can. 437 shall apply also to houses of orders and congregations.
Canon 510 The house of an order or congregation cannot validly be suppressed except
after consultation with the eparchial bishop. The suppression of the only house
of an order or a congregation is reserved to the authority which in accordance
with can. 507 can suppress the order or congregation.
Canon 511 1. The superiors and synaxes in orders and congregations have that power
which is determined in common law and the statutes. 2. In clerical orders and
congregations of pontifical or patriarchal right, moreover, superiors and synaxes
possess power of governance for both the external as well as the internal forum,
in conformity with the statutes.
Canon 512 1. A general synaxis, which holds higher authority according to the
norm of the statutes, is to be formed so that representing the entire order or
congregation, it should be a true sign of its unity in love. 2. Not only provinces
and houses, but even every member can freely send his or her wishes to the general
synaxis in a manner determined in the statutes.
Canon 513 1. In order for a member to be appointed or elected validly to the office
of superior, an appropriate period of time is required after perpetual profession,
to be determined by the statutes, which in the case of the major superiors must
be at least ten years from first profession. 2. If it is the case of the superior
general, there is moreover required for validity that he or she be thirty-five
years of age.
Canon 514 1. Superiors are to be constituted for a certain and appropriate term
of office, unless the statutes decree differently for the superior general. 2.
However, before the determined time has elapsed they can be removed from office,
or be transferred to another office for reasons, and according to the procedure,
determined by the statutes. 3. It shall be provided in suitable norms of the statutes
that members shall not stay for too long time in the office of superior without
interruption.
Canon 515 1. The superior general is designated by election according to the statutes.
2. Other superiors are designated in accordance with the statutes in such a way
that if they are elected, they need the confirmation of the competent major superior
but if they are appointed, that this be done after suitable prior consultation.
3. The prescriptions of cann. 947-960 as well as of can. 445 shall be carefully
followed in elections.
Canon 516 1. There shall be finance officers in orders and congregations for the
administration of temporal goods; a general finance officer who administers the
goods of the entire order or congregation; a provincial finance officer for the
province, a local finance officer for each single house; all of whom shall discharge
their duties under the authority of the superior. 2. A major superior cannot fulfill
the office of general finance officer or provincial finance officer. The duties
of a local finance officer although it is preferably separated from the office
of the superior, can nevertheless be combined with it if necessity demands it.
3. If the statutes are silent on the manner of designating finance officers, they
shall be appointed by the major superior with the consent of the council.
Canon 517 1. One is admitted validly to the novitiate of an order or congregation
who has completed the seventeenth year of age. In respect to other requirements
for admission to the novitiate cann. 448, 450, 452, and 454 shall be observed.
2. No one is admitted lawfully to the novitiate of a religious institute of another
Church sui iuris without the permission of the Apostolic See, unless it is a candidate
who is destined for a province or house, mentioned in can. 432, of the same Church.
Canon 518 Before being admitted to the novitiate, a candidate shall undergo an
appropriate period of preparation to be determined in the statutes, under the
special care of an experienced member.
Canon 519 The right to admit candidates to the novitiate pertains to major
superiors with due regard for the statutes and with can. 453, 2 and 3.
Canon 520 The novitiate begins in the manner prescribed by the statutes.
Canon 521 The erection, transfer and suppression of the location of the novitiate
shall be done by a decree of the superior general with the consent of his or her
council.
Canon 522 1. In order that the novitiate be valid, it must be made in the house
in which the novitiate is located; in special cases and by way of an exception,
the candidate can, with the permission of the superior general, given with the
consent of the council, make the novitiate in another house of the same order
or congregation, under the direction of an experienced member who takes the place
of the master of novices. 2. The major superior can permit a group of novices
to live for a certain period of time in another house of the same order or congregation
designated by him.
Canon 523 1. For validity of the novitiate it is required that it comprise one
full and continuous year; an absence of three months, either continuous or in
shorter interruptions, does not affect the validity, but, if it exceeds fifteen
days, the unfinished time must be made up, even though it had been dedicated to
apostolic work arranged for the instruction of the novices. 2. If the statutes
prescribed a longer novitiate, this is not required for the validity of the profession.
Canon 524 1. A director shall be appointed for the formation of the novices in
accordance with the statutes; the director shall be a member who is professed
at least ten years from first profession, outstanding in prudence, charity, piety,
knowledge, and the observance of religious state, and, in a clerical order or
congregation, a presbyter. 2. Assistants can be given to the director, if this
is necessary, who are subject to the director in everything that pertains to the
direction of the novitiate and the formation of the novices. 3. The director alone
has the right and duty of providing for the formation of the novices, so that
no one is allowed to interfere in these thing under any pretext whatever, except
the superiors to whom this is permitted by the statutes, and visitators; however,
in what relates to the religious discipline of the entire house, the director,
in the same way as the novices, is subject to the superior. 4. The novice is under
the authority of the director and the superiors and is obliged to obey them.
Canon 525 1. The conditions prescribed concerning novices in cann. 459- 461 oblige
also in orders and congregations. 2. The novice, before making temporary profession,
must cede to whomever he or she wishes, for the whole time during which he or
she will be bound by the profession, the administration of the goods which he
or she now possesses, as well as those which will accrue later; and they are to
dispose freely of their use and usufruct.
Canon 526 1. The temporary profession, with the three vows of obedience, chastity
and poverty, shall be made for that time determined in the statutes. 2. This profession
can be repeated several times in accordance with the statutes, but in such a manner
that taken together the time shall not be shorter than three nor longer than six
years.
Canon 527 For the validity of temporary profession it is required: (1) that the
novitiate has been validly completed; (2) that the novice be admitted to profession
by the competent superior according to the statutes with the consent of the council,
and the profession be received by the same superior in person or through another;
(3) that the profession be expressed and made without force, grave fear or fraud;
(4) that other requirements stipulated in the statutes for the validity of the
profession be fulfilled.
Canon 528 A temporarily professed member is held by the same obligation to observe
the statutes as a perpetually professed one; he or she lacks active and passive
voice, unless it is otherwise expressly provided in the statutes.
Canon 529 1. Temporary profession renders acts contrary to the vows unlawful,
but not invalid. 2. This profession does not deprive the member of the ownership
of one's own goods nor the capacity to acquire other ones. However, the member
is not permitted gratuitously to renounce the right of disposing of goods by an
act effective during life. 3. But whatever the member in temporary vows acquires
by his or her own industry or in respect to the order or congregation is acquired
for the order or congregation; unless the contrary is lawfully proven, it is presumed
that the member acquires in respect to the order or congregation. 4. The professed
can change the renunciation or disposition mentioned in can. 525, 2 not by his
or her own resolve but with the consent of the major superior, as long as the
change is not in favor of the order or congregation, at least not in respect to
a notable part of the goods. The renunciation or disposition ceases to have force
at the member's departure from the order or congregation. 5. If the temporarily
professed has incurred debts and obligations, that member must be responsible
for them,
unless he or she has, with the permission of the superior, transacted business
of the order or congregation. 6. With the expiration of temporary profession,
whatever offices held by the professed become vacant by the law itself.
Canon 530 In congregations, at least before perpetual profession the member
shall freely make a last will which also is valid in civil law.
Canon 531 By perpetual profession member assume definitively the religious state,
lose their own eparchy and are incorporated with full effects of law in the religious
order or congregation.
Canon 532 For the validity of perpetual profession is required, in addition to
the requirements of can. 464, that there has been a period of temporary profession
in accordance with can. 526.
Canon 533 In orders the perpetual profession is equivalent to the perpetual monastic
profession, hence cann. 466-468 are to be applied.
Canon 534 In congregations: (1) the canonical effects of perpetual profession
remain the same as those determined in can. 529 for temporary profession, except
if otherwise provided by common law; (2) the major superior can, with the consent
of the council, permit a perpetually professed member at the member's own request
to make a cession of his or her goods, provided that it is done prudently; (3)
it is up to the general synaxis to introduce into the statutes, if it deems it
opportune, the obligation for a member to renounce his or her patrimony, acquired
or to be acquired, which renunciation, however, cannot be done prior to perpetual
profession.
Canon 535 1. In making any kind of profession, the prescriptions of the statutes
shall be observed. 2. The document certifying that the profession has been made,
signed by the professed member and by the one who received the profession, even
by delegation, shall be preserved in the archives of the order or congregation.
If it is the case of perpetual profession, the major superior must as soon as
possible notify the pastor with whom the baptism of the professed is recorded.
Canon 536 1. The manner of formation of members according to the norm of can.
471, 1 is to be determined in the statutes. 2. The formation of the members who
are destined for sacred orders is to proceed according to the plan of clerical
formation prescribed in can. 330 at a facility for studies of the order or congregation
approved by the general synaxis or the major superiors in accordance with the
statutes. However, if it is not possible to have a facility of studies of their
own set up according to can. 340, 1, the members must be instructed, under the
guidance of an experienced moderator, in another seminary or school of higher
studies approved by ecclesiastical authority.
Canon 537 1. Major superiors can grant, in accordance with the statutes, dimissorial
letters for sacred orders to perpetually professed members. 2. The bishop to whom
the superior must address the dimissorial letters is the eparchial bishop of the
place in which the candidate has a domicile; to another bishop, however, if the
eparchial bishop has given permission, is of a Church sui iuris different from
that of the candidate, is absent, or, finally, if the eparchy is vacant and the
one who governs it is not an ordained bishop. In each case it is necessary that
all this be certain to the ordaining bishop by an authentic document of the eparchial
curia.
Canon 538 1. In each house of orders and congregations the divine praises shall
be celebrated according to the norms of the statutes and lawful custom. 2. The
superiors shall see to it that all members fulfill in accordance with the statutes
what is prescribed in can. 473, 2. 3. Members of orders and congregations should
approach the sacrament of penance frequently, observing can. 474, 2.
Canon 539 1. The superiors shall see to it that suitable confessors are available
to the members. 2. The confessors in clerical orders and congregations of pontifical
or patriarchal right are designated by the major superior according to the statutes;
but in other cases by the local hierarch after hearing the superior, who must
previously consult the interested community.
Canon 540 In respect to the habit of the members the prescriptions of the statutes,
and outside their own houses also the norms of the eparchial bishop, are to be
followed.
Canon 541 The norms respecting the enclosure shall be determined in the statutes
of individual orders and congregations in accordance with their own character,
without prejudice to the right of superiors, even local ones, to permit something
different for a just cause in individual instances.
Canon 542 Superiors shall take care that they provide willingly members designated
by them, especially in the eparchy in which they dwell, when their ministry is
required by the local hierarch or the pastor, in order to provide for the needs
of the faithful, both in and outside their own churches, without prejudice to
the character of the institute and to religious discipline.
Canon 543 A member of an order or congregation who is a pastor remains bound by
the vows and the obligations of his profession as well as of the statutes insofar
as this observance of the statutes is compatible with the obligations of his office.
He remains subject to the superior in matters which pertain to religious discipline,
but in those which concern the office of pastor he enjoys the same rights and
is bound by the same obligations as other pastors, and is subject in the same
way to the eparchial bishop.
Canon 544 1. Within the territorial boundaries of the patriarchal Church a member
can validly transfer to another religious institute with the written permission
of the patriarch and with the consent of his or her own superior general and the
superior general of the order or congregation to which he or she wishes to transfer,
or, if a member wants to transfer to a monastery, of the superior of the monastery
sui iuris; for the granting of their consent, the superiors require the previous
consent of their council or, in a monastery, of the synaxis. 2. A member can validly
transfer from a congregation of eparchial right to another religious institute
of eparchial right with the written consent of the eparchial bishop of the place
where the main house of the religious institute to which the transfer is to be
made, after consultation with the superior general of the congregation from which
the transfer is to be made, with the consent of the superior general of the congregation
or the superior of the monastery sui iuris to which he or she transfers. For the
granting of this consent the superiors need the prior consent of their council
or, in a monastery, of the synaxis. 3. In other cases the member cannot validly
transfer to another religious institute without the consent of the Apostolic See.
4. The consent of the Apostolic See is required for the validity of a transfer
to a religious institute of another Church sui iuris.
Canon 545 1. The one who transfers must go through the entire novitiate, except
if the superior general or the superior of the monastery sui iuris, each of them
with the consent of the council, on account of special circumstances, reduces
the time of the novitiate, but not below six months. During the novitiate, the
vows remaining in force, the rights and particular obligations which the member
had in the previous order or congregation are held suspended, and the member is
bound by the obligation to obey the superiors of the new religious institute and
the director of novices also in virtue of the vow of obedience. 2. After having
completed the novitiate, one who was perpetually professed at the moment of transfer
shall publicly make profession according to the statutes of the religious institute
to which he or she transferred. By this new profession one is fully united to
the new institute, and, if he is a cleric, he is enrolled in it as a cleric as
well. But one who has thus far made temporary profession, shall make a temporary
profession in the same manner for at least three more years, except in the case
when he or she completed the entire novitiate of three years in the monastery
sui iuris to which he or she transferred. 3. If the member does not make the profession
in the religious institute to which he or she transferred, that member must return
to the previous institute, unless in the meantime the time of profession has expired.
4. In respect to goods and dowry can. 488, 4 shall be observed.
Canon 546 1. The temporarily professed may freely leave the order or congregation
at the expiration of the time of the vows. 2. One who, while still in temporary
vows, requests for a grave reason to leave the order or congregation, can obtain
from the superior general with the consent of the council the indult to leave
the order or congregation definitively and return to secular life, with the effects
mentioned in can. 493; in congregations of eparchial right, the indult, in order
to be valid, must be confirmed by the local eparchial bishop where the main house
of the same congregation is located.
Canon 547 1. The major superior, having consulted the council, can for a just
cause exclude a member in temporary vows from the renewal of the temporary vows
or from making perpetual profession. 2. Physical or psychic illness, even if contracted
after temporary profession, which in the judgment of experts renders a member
in temporary vows incapable of leading life in the religious institute, constitutes
a reason for not admitting that person to the renewal of temporary profession
or the making of perpetual profession, unless the infirmity was contracted on
account of the negligence of the institute or because of the work performed in
the institute. 3. However, if the member becomes insane during temporary vows,
that member cannot be dismissed from the institute even if he or she cannot make
a new profession.
Canon 548 1. The indult of exclaustration can be granted by the authority to which
the order or congregation is subject having heard the superior general and the
council. The imposition of exclaustration, however, can be decreed by the same
authority at the request of the superior general acting with the consent of the
council. 2. In other aspects of exclaustration cann. 489-491 shall be observed.
Canon 549 1. A perpetually professed member shall not ask for the indult to leave
the order or congregation and to return to secular life except for the most grave
reasons. Such a member shall submit a petition to the superior general, who shall
forward it, along with his or her votum and that of the council, to the competent
authority. 2. In orders, an indult of this kind is reserved to the Apostolic See;
but in congregations, in addition to the Apostolic See, it can be granted also
by: (1) the patriarch with respect to all members who have domicile within the
territorial boundaries of the Church over which he presides, after having consulted,
if it is a congregation of eparchial right, the eparchial bishop; (2) the eparchial
bishop of the eparchy in which the member is domiciled, if it is the case of a
congregation of eparchial right. 3. The indult of departure from the order or
congregation has the same canonical effects as stated in can. 493; but with respect
to a member who is in a sacred order, can. 494 is to be applied in addition.
Canon 550 A member, who is unlawfully absent from the house of their own order
or congregation with the intention of withdrawing from the power of superiors,
is to be solicitously sought after by the same superiors; if, however, within
the time prescribed by the statutes, he does not return, he is to be punished
according to the norm of law or even dismissed.
Canon 551 What is prescribed in cann. 497 and 498 concerning dismissal or expulsion
shall apply to all members of orders and congregations. The competent authority
is the major superior having consulted the council; if it concerns expulsions,
with the consent of the council. If there is danger in delay and there is no time
to reach the major superior, the local superior, with the consent of the council,
can expel a member, notifying at once the major superior.
Canon 552 1. A temporarily professed member can be dismissed by the superior
general with the consent of the council unless the dismissal is reserved in the
statutes to the eparchial bishop or another authority to which the order or congregation
is subject. 2. In deciding about the dismissal, in addition to other conditions
which might be prescribed by the statutes, the following must be observed: (1)
the reasons for dismissal must be grave, and on the part of the member, external
and imputable; (2) the lack of the religious spirit, which can be a cause of scandal
to others, is a sufficient cause for dismissal if repeated warnings, along with
salutary penances, have been in vain; (3) the reasons for dismissal must be certain
in the mind of the dismissing superior, although it is not necessary that they
be formally proven. Yet, they must be always made known to the member, granting
the member full opportunity of defence, and the responses are to be faithfully
submitted to the dismissing superior. 3. A recourse against the decree of dismissal
has suspensive effect.
Canon 553 The superior general is competent with respect to the dismissal of
a perpetually professed member; in other cases, cann. 500-503 are to be observed.
Canon 554 1. An institute in which the members profess the evangelical counsels
by some sacred bond but not by religious vows, and imitate the manner of life
of the religious state, under the governance of superiors in accordance with approved
statutes, is a society of common life according to the manner of religious. 2.
Such a society is of pontifical, patriarchal or eparchial right, in accordance
with the norm of can. 505, 2; it is clerical, according to norm of can. 505, 3;
dependent on the ecclesiastical authority as congregations are, in accordance
with the norm of cann. 413-415, 419, 420, 3 and with due regard to particular
law established by the Apostolic See, can. 418, 2. 3. Members of these societies
are equivalent to religious in what pertains to the canonical effects unless the
law provides otherwise or it is apparent from the nature of the matter.
Canon 555 All members of these societies are subject to the Roman Pontiff as their
supreme superior, whom they are obliged also in virtue of the sacred bond of obedience.
Canon 556 In respect to the erection and suppression of a society and of its provinces
or houses, the same prescriptions as those established for congregations in cann.
506-510 are to be applied.
Canon 557 The mode of governance is to be defined by the statutes of the society.
In all, however, the norms of cann. 422 and 511-515 on congregations shall be
applied, unless this is against the nature of the matter.
Canon 558 1. The society, its provinces and houses, lawfully erected, are by the
law itself juridic persons according to the norm of can. 423. 2. The administration
of goods shall be governed by the prescriptions of cann. 424, 425, and 516. 3.
Whatever members acquire in respect to the society is acquired for the society;
other property the members retain, acquire and administer in conformity with the
statutes.
Canon 559 1. The statutes shall be observed regarding the admission of candidates
in the society with due regard for cann. 450 and 451. 2. The statutes shall be
observed in respect to the formation of members, but in respect to the formation
of members who are destined for holy orders the canons on the formation of clerics
are to be followed.
Canon 560 1. In accordance with the norm of the statutes, the major superior of
a society can issue dimissorial letters for holy orders to be conferred on perpetually
incorporated members; these letters are to be sent to the bishop mentioned in
can. 537, 2. 2. A perpetually incorporated member is enrolled as a cleric in the
society by diaconal ordination or, in the case of a cleric already enrolled in
an eparchy, by perpetual incorporation.
Canon 561 The members of a society are bound by the obligations which are prescribed
for clerics by common law, unless the law provides otherwise or it is otherwise
certain from the nature of the matter, without prejudice to the rights and obligations
determined in the statutes.
Canon 562 1. In the case of transfer to another society of living in common according
to the manner of religious or to a religious institute, the consent is required
of the superior general of the society from which the transfer is being made and,
if it is in regard to a transfer to a society of another Church sui iuris, also
the consent of the Apostolic See. 2. A member who moves to another religious institute
must go through the entire novitiate and is equivalent to other novices of the
institute; with respect to profession, the statutes of the new institute are to
be followed. 3. Without prejudice to cann. 497 and 498, in order to dismiss a
member after perpetual incorporation, the superior general is competent, observing
cann. 500-503, but a temporarily incorporated member is to be dismissed in accordance
with can. 552. 4. It shall be determined in the statutes of the society the authority
who is to dispense from the sacred bond.
Canon 563 1. A secular institute is a society in which the members: (1) strive
to dedicate themselves totally to God by profession of the three evangelical counsels
according to the statutes, strengthened by some sacred bond recognized by the
Church; (2) exercise an apostolic activity as a leaven in the world and of the
world so that everything is inspired with evangelical spirit for the strengthening
and increase of the Body of Christ; (3) do not imitate the manner of life of religious,
but lead a life of communion among themselves according to their statutes; (4)
clerics or lay persons, in respect to all canonical effects, remain each in their
own state. 2. Secular institutes are of pontifical, patriarchal or eparchial right,
in accordance with can. 505, 2.
Canon 564 The members of the secular institutes are subject to the Roman Pontiff
as their supreme superior, whom they are obliged to obey also in virtue of the
sacred bond of obedience.
Canon 565 A member of a secular institute is enrolled as a cleric in virtue of
diaconal ordination in the eparchy for whose service he was ordained, unless he
is enrolled in the institute in virtue of a concession of the Apostolic See, or,
if it is a secular institute of patriarchal right, of the patriarch.
Canon 566 Regarding the erection and suppression of secular institutes, their
statutes as well as their dependence on ecclesiastical authority cann. 414, 506,
507, 2, 509 and 510 on congregations shall be observed.
Canon 567 1. The secular institutes, their provinces and houses, lawfully erected,
are by the law itself juridic persons, according to the norm of can. 423. 2. The
administration of goods is governed by cann. 424 and 425.
Canon 568 1. Regarding the admitting candidates, the statutes are to be observed
with due regard for can. 450. 2. A perpetually incorporated member of a secular
institute is dismissed by a decree issued in accordance with the statutes; however
the decree cannot be executed unless it is approved by the eparchial bishop or
by the competent higher ecclesiastical authority; it is up to the same eparchial
bishop or authority to also dissolve the sacred bond.
Canon 569 It is reserved to the particular law of each Church sui iuris to enact
more detailed norms concerning secular institutes.
Canon 570 Particular law can establish other kinds of ascetics who imitate eremitical
life, belonging or not to an institute of consecrated life. Consecrated virgins
and widows who live on their own in the world, having publicly professed chastity,
can also come under norms of particular law.
Canon 571 It is reserved to the Apostolic See to approve new forms of consecrated
life. Patriarchs and eparchial bishops shall strive to discover new gifts of consecrated
life as entrusted to the Church by the Holy Spirit, and they shall support their
promoters in order that they may better manifest their purpose, and shall protect
them by appropriate statutes.
Canon 572 Societies of apostolic life, whose members without religious vows pursue
the particular apostolic purpose of the society, and leading a life as brothers
in common according to their own rule of life, striving for the perfection of
charity through the observance of their constitutions, and which are comparable
to institutes of the consecrated life are governed only by the particular law
of their own Church sui iuris or established by the Apostolic See.
TITLE 13 Associations of the Christian Faithful
Canon 573 1. Associations which are erected by competent ecclesiastical authority,
or approved by the decree of the same authority, are juridic persons in the Church
and are called public associations. 2. Other associations, even if praised or
recommended by ecclesiastical authority, are called private associations; these
associations are not recognized in the Church, unless their statutes are reviewed
by competent authority but otherwise they are regulated only by particular law
with due regard for can. 577.
Canon 574 With due regard in any case for can. 18, the competent ecclesiastical
authority alone has the right to erect associations of the Christian faithful
which set out to teach Christian doctrine in the name of the Church or to promote
public worship or which aim at other ends whose pursuit by their nature is reserved
to the same ecclesiastical authority.
Canon 575 1. The competent authority for erecting or approving associations of
the Christian faithful is for associations and their confederations: (1) the eparchial
bishop for eparchial associations, but not the administrator of the eparchy, excepting
those associations whose erection has been reserved to others by apostolic or
patriarchal privilege; (2) the patriarch after consultation with his permanent
synod, or the metropolitan after consultation with the two eparchial bishops senior
in episcopal ordination, for associations open to all the Christian faithful of
any patriarchal or metropolitan Church sui iuris and which has its principal headquarters
with the territorial boundaries of the same Church; (3) the Apostolic See for
other types. 2. For the erection of any branch of any non-eparchial association,
the written consent of the eparchial bishop is required; however, the consent
given by an eparchial bishop for the erection of a house of a religious institute
also allows for the erection in the same house or church attached to it, of an
association proper to the institute.
Canon 576 1. Every association is to have its own statutes, in which are defined
its name, purpose, headquarters, government and the conditions required for membership.
Besides these things, the statutes are to determine its policies in accordance
with the rite of their own Church sui iuris and the needs or usefulness of the
place and time. 2. The statutes and their modification require the approval of
the ecclesiastical authority which erected or approved the association.
Canon 577 1. Every association is subject to the vigilance of the ecclesiastical
authority which erected or approved it; this authority is to see that the integrity
of faith and morals is preserved in them, and to watch lest abuse creep into ecclesiastical
discipline. 2. It is the duty of the eparchial bishop to be vigilant of all associations
exercising activity in his territory, and as the case may be, to notify the authority
which has erected or approved them, and further, if the action of the association
causes serious harm to ecclesiastical doctrine or discipline, or is a scandal
to the Christian faithful, to apply appropriate remedies in the meantime.
Canon 578 1. The reception of members is to be done in accordance with the
norm of common law and the statutes of the association. 2. The same person can
be enrolled in several associations. 3. Members of religious institutes can enroll
in associations, according to the norm of typicon or statutes with the consent
of their superior.
Canon 579 No association of the Christian faithful can enroll its members as
clerics without a special concession of the Apostolic See, or, if it is an association
covered by can. 575, 1, n. 2, by the patriarch, with the consent of the permanent
synod.
Canon 580 One who has publicly rejected the Catholic faith, or has publicly
abandoned communion with the Catholic Church, or has been punished with major
excommunication, cannot validly be received into associations; but if he has already
been lawfully enrolled, he should be declared dismissed by the local hierarch
in virtue of the law itself.
Canon 581 No one who has been legitimately enrolled may be dismissed from an
association except for a just cause in accordance with the norm of common law
and the statutes.
Canon 582 A lawfully established and approved association administers temporal
goods according to the norms of the cann. 1007-1054 and according to the norm
of its own statutes, under the vigilance of the authority which erected or approved
it, to whom the association must render an account of its administration each
year.
Canon 583 1. Associations erected or approved by the Apostolic See can be only
suppressed by the Apostolic See. 2. The other associations, with due regard for
can. 927, 2, and with due regard to the right of recourse, with suspensive effect,
according to the norm of law, besides by the Apostolic See, can be suppressed:
(1) by the patriarch with the consent of his permanent synod; or by the metropolitan
who presides in a metropolitan Church sui iuris, with the consent of the two senior
eparchial bishops according to episcopal ordination; (2) by an eparchial bishop,
if the associations were erected or approved by him.
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