Roman Catholic Canon Law

This paper deals with the relation between God and the secular legal systems of Western liberal democracies. It provides a normative argument for the compatibility of God and secular legal reasoning. In our age, in which believing in God is no longer socially axiomatic and the right to religious freedom protects all kinds of theistic and non-theistic religious beliefs, creeds, and first philosophies, it seems contrary to religious neutrality for secular legal systems to single out God. This paper instead argues that, although God and religion are inextricably intertwined, they affect the legal system in different ways because they are ontologically different. God cannot be reduced to a mere component of theistic religion. This paper argues that a proper understanding of secularization might call for keeping God outside the legal system but not for driving God out of the public sphere of democratic societies. Secular legal systems are not atheist legal systems. Secular legal systems are legal systems 'without religion' but not 'without God.' Secularization implies some degree of minimal recognition of God as a metalegal concept. The specific degree of recognition of God appropriate for any given political community depends on its cultural and communitarian identity and should be subject to the rules of democratic procedures and majorities. This is the metalegal God.

Based on Samuel Scott's Digesta in English, published in 1932, I have translated it into 13 European languages with the deeple translator and made it available in the online legal theory journal of the Eötvös Lóránd University Faculty of Law in Budapest, in the supplement of the Legal Theory Review. Although this makes Digesta just over 3,000 pages, the online format allows for this, so I have not separated the 50 books into separate volumes, but have put them together in a single structure. By publishing the translations on the online portal academia.edu, legal scholars will also have privileged access to the Digesta in all thirteen languages, published in a single structure.

This article analyses the debates about mixed marriages held within the Roman Curia (and especially the Roman Inquisition) between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries, integrating these debates with the normative and prescriptive literature. These authorities generally considered mixed marriages between Protestants and Catholics valid and even sacramental in virtue of the shared sacrament of the baptism, but at the same time constructed such unions as ‘carnal crimes’ to ‘abhor’. They believed that the most harmful effect of these polluting unions was that the Catholic partner might become tolerant of Protestantism, rendering the ‘heretic’ dangerously, contagiously familiar and abandoning future generations to heresy. Women were a particular concern for these authorities. Drawing upon traditional and somewhat contradictory ideas about women, they saw the wives in these marriages on one hand as particularly likely to be seduced by the ‘false faith’ because of their presumed weakness, but on the other hand they recognised women as a group with a special talent for beguiling men and so entrusted them with a missionary function towards their ‘heretical’ husbands. The role women could assume in mixed marriages therefore dynamised gender relations, but also caused social tension because of the challenge to patriarchal society, especially if they continued to practice their own faith and were entrusted with the religious education of the children.

I discorsi del Papa al Tribunale della Rota Romana offrono al giurista spunti per una riflessione sempre più aderente alla verità e di conseguenza più attenta ai diritti dei fedeli e agli altri beni protetti dall'ordinamento canonico. Tra di essi spunta il vincolo matrimoniale, il quale essendo per i battezzati, la stessa realtà della creazione elevata alla dignità di sacramento, ha una sostanza e valore universali, ed è cellula fondante della società, non solo di quella ecclesiale ma dell'intera comunità umana.
In questo senso non è privo d'interesse sottolineare come nelle più recenti allocuzioni alla Rota si intravveda nelle parole del Pontefice l'intenzione di trattare i grandi temi che riguardano il disegno divino sul matrimonio, sottraendolo a dibattiti incentrati su questioni che interesserebbero solo (o quasi) i tribunali della Chiesa, per lo più questioni processuali o sostanziali riferite alle cause di nullità del matrimonio canonico.
Non a caso le parole rivolte all'alto Tribunale il 28 gennaio del 2002, si pongono in continuità con quelle degli anni precedenti, con le quali si voleva ribadire l'insegnamento sulla dimensione naturale del matrimonio e della famiglia  e quello sull'indissolubilità di ogni vera unione coniugale . Il Papa propone ai giuristi uno dei compiti più urgenti e primari nell'odierna cultura secolarizzata: quello di riscoprire cos'è il matrimonio, non solo per i cristiani ma per tutti, poiché di matrimonio (l’istituto matrimoniale) ne esiste uno solo. Ed è proprio per questo che le parole del Papa «fanno notizia», anche se spesso i media ne danno una lettura parziale quando non distorta, cogliendone gli aspetti più «polemici» che non sono generalmente i più rilevanti.

This articles offers practical guidelines for religious institutes facing decline in an uncertain and changing world. In this difficult but grace-filled time, a community can live today's challenges with the same courage, fidelity and creativity that have marked its entire history. It discusses developing a timeline, identifying the covenant(s) and/or partnership(s) that will be helpful along the way and arranging for transition in:
    Sponsorship
    Eldercare
    Administration, Temporal Goods and Finance, and
    Leadership, both Canonical and Pastoral

Late Medieval Papal Legation is a result of long term study of papal legates in the late medieval period. Even though this crucial institution of the reform papacy of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries kept its standards as designed in the classical canon law, it was transformed according to the current needs of the papacy in later periods. A substantial change came after the conciliar crisis and before the radical transformation of the first half of the sixteenth century. In the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, papal legates de latere, as cardinals, travelled all around Europe in support of the recovered papal authority after the conciliar period and before the outbreak of the German Reformation.

This volume attempts to systematise the changes of this specific period in the development of the papacy. It is based on extensive research in the Vatican Archives and Library, other Italian and especially Central European archives and libraries, and published sources of the period. The volume focuses on the terminology and theory of papal legation, on the sources and expression of legatine authority and on the system in relation to practical matters (ceremonial, travelling, finance), and political, diplomatic and ecclesiastical tasks and topics. The study of the legatine office is exceptionally complex and ranges from high diplomacy and spiritual benefits brought for distinct provinces, to the personal interests and involvement of individual cardinals. This book tries to open discussion on research that has only just started and needs to be developed as an integral part of our understanding of medieval papal and European history.

The focus of this paper is an over-arching comparison of CCEO’s and CIC’s canonical provisions regarding the consecrated life which echoes the work of Jobe Abbas, OFM Conv.  It may be deemed as a springboard for a more comprehensive assessment of particular provisions of the two codes in relation to consecrated life. In aspiring to have a better appreciation of how canonical provisions for consecrated life in the two codes came to be, this opus aims to broadly trace significant events which illustrate the genesis, growth and spread of consecrated life both in the East and in the West.

The master’s thesis for MA Society, Law and Religion focuses on the procedural law reform introduced by the publication of Pope Francis’ motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus in 2015. Since the marriage procedural law reform, scholars have expressed opinions that the current procedural rules governing the proceeding of the briefer process for marriage nullity cases before the bishop are inconsistent with the ordinary canonical norms on the theme of evidence. This thesis adopts the method of literature review and law comparison to present a synthesis of the status of art regarding the marriage procedural law reform. In addition, this thesis puts canonical marriage law into comparison with secular family law in the United Kingdom and Belgium for enhancing the intellectual exchange between different legal systems.

A Christian martyr for the gospel of social justice, and a man of deep spirituality and great ethical stature, Óscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador during years of brutal government and paramilitary repression, is a towering figure in the recent history of El Salvador and Latin America. Since his murder on March 24, 1980, while he was celebrating the Eucharist, his legacy and cultural influence have only grown. For decades, in life and after it, he was controversial and often manipulated, branded as both a communist and a conservative, as a provocateur of the Salvadoran civil war (1980–1992), and a leader of people’s liberation and human rights. Many political, military, and ecclesiastical authorities in and outside his country harshly criticized Romero’s attitude and behavior. Salvadoran oligarchs denounced him repeatedly, but not so the hundreds of thousands of peasants who confirmed as true what Romero wrote about his own mission: “The ministry that God […] has given me is, like the one given to Moses, to lead our people to the Promised Land.

150 years ago, during the First Vatican Council, the Constitution Pastor aeternus was published. In this text Pope Pius IX declared the pope to be infallible when he defines a dogma ex cathedra. This was possible because of the ultramontane feelings of many Catholics in the 19th century, which enhanced papal authority. It had given Pius IX the chance to pronounce infallibly the Immaculate Conception of Mary, sixteen years before the promulgation of Pastor aeternus. Many bishops at the council thought the pope would used the possibility a lot. He did not, and neither did his successors. The only clear examples are the pronunciation of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary by Pius XII in 1950, and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of John Paul II in 1994. The infallible character of the second example was unclear. It was pointed out that the pope had not stated that it was an infallible statement and there was doubt about the ex cathedra character. According to canones 749-750 CIC/1983, the statement was indeed infallible. Two prefects of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the cardinals RATZINGER and LADARIA  leave no doubt. Even though theologians and canonists have been resourceful when looking for a way out of troublesome doctrines, they are faced with a ponderous problem. Pope Francis has declared that the last word on the ordination of women in the Catholic Church had been given by Pope John Paul II. The statement stands.

This is a presentation given at the Catholic Church – Oriental Orthodox Churches International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue 27 January – 2 February 2019 in Rome.  It provides an overview of the canonical notion of marriage in the Catholic Church.

The Church of England’s recent study on Christian–Jewish relations, "God’s Unfailing Word" (Dec 2019), calls for Christian repentance about historic antisemitism, turning away from past offences to reshape our future together. One prime opportunity for the Church to put these noble ideas into practice relates to the upcoming eight-hundredth anniversary of the Synod of Oxford, which is to canon law what Magna Carta is to civil law. The Synod in April 1222 was responsible for instituting the notorious badge of shame upon English Jews, the forerunner of the yellow star. It inflicted church tithes upon Jews, despite preventing them from turning to churches for safekeeping of property, and forbade the building new synagogues. It curtailed all social interaction between Jews and Christians as much as possible, not only denying Jews the freedom to enter churches or employ Christian servants, but also threatening with excommunication any Christians who developed friendships with Jews or sold them provisions. As a shocking visual warning against the danger of friendship, its ‘opening ceremony’, so to speak, featured the degrading and burning at the stake of a deacon who had converted and married into Judaism; this became the common-law precedent for the death penalty for heresy thereafter. The attached research paper sets out what is known through publicly available documents, and invites the Church of England to conduct further archival investigations and then take an active lead in preparing for a national service of repentance and reconciliation on the 800th anniversary of the Synod in spring 2022.

The canonical concept «sui iuris Church», whose positive implementation was brought about with the promulgation of The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), has come to reflect, in canonical language, the historical tradition and conciliar teaching of the peculiar ecclesiological statute of the Eastern Churches within the Catholic communion. This article treats the process that led to the positive implementation of this concept, especially in relation to the concept «particular Church», as well as the hallmarks of the concept «sui iuris Church»: «the organized association of particular Churches under the guidance of a hierarch, within an Eastern ritual tradition, to whom the Church has recognized, explicitly or implicitly, this peculiar statute of autonomy» (sui iuris). This article also addresses the relationship between the concept «sui iuris» Church and «rite», the current reality of the sui iuris Churches, and raises some open questions, such as the possible application of the concept to other ecclesial realities, or the question concerning whether the Latin Church is another sui iuris Church.

One of the contributions of the 1983 Code of Canon Law is the introduction of the so called «doctrinal canons». Canon 600 offers a regulation of the evangelical counsel of poverty in which the teaching of Vatican II and the canonical regulation, common to all Consecrated, converge. Canon 600 establishes the canonical minimum upon which, together with canon 668, Religious Institutes' proper laws will build their regulations. An adequate understanding of the canon should include the sequela Christi —and other elements pointed out by Vatican II— and the «dependence and limitation in the use and disposition of material goods», should include theological and canonical elements. This article tries to provide a synthesis of the theological and canonical elements as a framework for the understanding of religious' poverty.
KEY WORDS: Evangelical counsel, Voluntary poverty, Christhological element, Dependence, Limitation, Vows, Simple vows, Solemn vows.

New Testament Church Structure – Paul and his Coworkers – An Alternativ Theological Education – A Critique of Catholic Canon Law

This volume contains the English translation of the chapter on the church structure from the author’s “Ethics” as well as essays on Catholic canon law, on the interaction of New Testament missionaries with one another and on theological education.

DRAFT of paper for Theology of Canon Law. Thesis that process and penal law, with the ends of of the application of censures, penalties, and penances, are tools for the salus animarum. Therefore, the salus animarum is not only an essential part of canon law, but it is something that must be applied.

This article intends to explore briefly the steps that lead to the appearance of the summary Rite on the medieval Ius Commune, highlighting
the role of Canon law, and in particular the legislative interventions of Pope Clement V, in the conformation of this process, from the decretals
Dispendiosam and Saepe Contingit up to the Bartolus de Sassoferrato’s study about the Constitution Ad Reprimendum, well as its reflection on
the italian statuti comunali.

This study describes the canon's inter-textual use of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal sources which come from the tradition of the Septuagint and were later utilized by the Assyrian Church of the East. These writings also improve our understanding of the exaltation of man in Christ.

The paper offers a comparison of the canonical discipline of the Eastern and Western Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox.  It further focuses on the pastoral response of these Churches to the divorced and remarried and offers suggestions for a convergence of disciplines.

Quand il est à Rome, le pape François déjeune chaque jour au milieu de bonnes soeurs dont il partage le modeste repas. Signe de la vie simple qu’il s’est choisie en référence à François d’Assise, dont il fut le premier pape à adopter le patronyme comme pour inaugurer une ère nouvelle. Mais aussi, dit-on, façon de conjurer le risque d’un empoisonnement, tant sa volonté de réforme heurterait les puissants du Vatican… Pour autant, en faire un pape révolutionnaire reviendrait à ne pas saisir à quel point son action est limitée par la doctrine, le fonctionnement des structures de l’Église et les difficultés contemporaines du catholicisme. Si François, professionnel de la communication et habile jésuite, tient tant à un aggiornamento, c’est avant tout pour tenter d'enrayer le recul, aussi rapide que profond, de la foi romaine partout en Occident.

esde sus inicios, la Iglesia ha buscado la unidad valorando siempre la
diversidad. En este esfuerzo por sentir y vivir con un solo corazón, la comu-
nidad de los seguidores de Jesús está llamada a hacer un camino de diálo-
go, escucha y discernimiento en común, en el que todos participen.
En este contexto emerge la categoría de la sinodalidad para fundamen-
tar, modelar y reforzar la vida dentro de la Iglesia, y para ser un signo de
participación libre y corresponsable de los individuos en la sociedad.
Para cumplir el objetivo de «caminar juntos», la sinodalidad urge a los
cristianos a iniciar un proceso de revisión de su forma de estar y actuar en
las comunidades concretas, lo cual supone una verdadera conversión del
propio estilo de vida.

This article surveys the general framework of the law of sanctions or penal law in the Roman Catholic Church, the largest Christian church. The recent and devastating crisis of clergy sexual abuses of minors  has challenged the whole ecclesiastical penal system, which in our day is undergoing revision.  The first part of the chapter makes some relevant terminological clarifications to facilitate proper understanding of the scope of penal canon law in the Catholic Church. The second part explains the most important features of the current universal penal canon law system in the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church (1983) and in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (1990), as well as in subsequent legislation. The last part makes an evaluation of the system of penal law and offers some proposals for its improvement

Pope Francis brought out changes in the Penal Laws of the Church through his Apostolic Constitution "Pascite Gregem Dei" dated 23rd May 2021, by which he reformed the sixth book of the Code of Canon Law Dei.
The article deals with the changes that have been brought in.

Taking the historical context into the consideration the territory of the Spiš See was limited to the north by the borders of the Kingdom of Poland and to the south by the Hnilec valley. On the west its territory was bordered by the High and Low Tatras and by the Branisko uplands to the east. At the end of the 12th century the territory was administered by the provosts acting at Spišská Kapitula who were subordinated to the Esztergom bishops from the jurisdictional point of view. In 1776 the Spiš territory merged with the Liptov and Orava Sees in order to be united under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Spiš bishopric which in fact has originated at the time. Nevertheless, the Catholic faith in the 17th century experienced almost no support at all. On the beginning of the Reformation process until the first half of the 16th century all monasteries and convents had been ruined. Majority of the priests including their parishes apostatized from the Catholic faith to follow Protestants. With the exception of a few settlements almost all of them used to be led by the Lutherans. Nevertheless, the Recatolization process started in the early 17th century thanks to the immense assistance of the monastic orders such as the Jesuits and Piarists, as well as the highly dedicated Spiš provosts. One of the most significant Recatolization tools included conduct of the canonical visitations.
These referred to the visits performed by the church authorities such as the bishop or archbishop within the territory of their jurisdiction - including chapters, parishes and monasteries. On performing the visitations not only the conditions of the particular parishes had been examined, but also the sacred and non-sacred buildings, including the articles of their inventories, as well as the human resources, such as the priests, teachers and other competent persons, their revenues and salaries, etc. On the other hand, the authorities were interested in laypersons and other residents in the parishes, their moral and denominational affiliation, etc. The eldest mentions on the canonical visitations refer to the 13th century, however, the oldest preserved records of visitations date back to the 17th century. Whether successful or not, several examinations had been conducted during the mentioned period by the Spiš provosts or archbishops from Esztergom. Nevertheless, the eldest visitations was concerned with Spišská Kapitula only. The visitation in 1732 was restrained by the protest of the Protestant residents who at the time were at majority. The consequent visitation was performed by the contemporary provost Ján Pálfalvay during the period between 1655 and 1656. The one refers to the eldest preserved visitation of the parishes within the Spiš territory in which a church or a chapter was dedicated to the Catholic Church. In 1655 this reffered to the 30 settlements in: Kežmarok, Spišský Štvrtok, Spišský Hrušov and its affiliated branch in Vítkovce, Domaňovce, Ordzoviany, Bijacovce, Pongrácovce, Žehra and its affiliated branch in Dúbrava, Harakovce, Korytné, Poľanovce, Letanovce and its affiliated branch in Jánovce, Spišské Tomášovce and its affiliated branch in Arnutovce, Lendak, Kacvín, Nižné Lapše, Vyšné Lapše, Tribš, Krempachy, Belá, Fridman and its affiliated branch in Nedeca, Spišská Stará Ves, Matiašovce, Lechnica and Veľká Lesná. In the following year Spišské Hanušovce were added to the list. In the conclusion, two older texts have been included: The Instructions for the Visitation of the Spiš Provost Matej Tarnóczy dating back to the beginning of the 17th century and the so-called Puncta on the visitations collected by the cardinal Báthory which date back to the 16th century.