| CODE OF CANON LAW BOOK VI. SANCTIONS IN THE CHURCH
BOOK VI.
SANCTIONS IN THE CHURCH PART II. PENALTIES FOR INDIVIDUAL DELICTS TITLE I. DELICTS AGAINST RELIGION AND THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH (Cann. 1364 - 1369) Can. 1364 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of can. 194, §1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication; in addition, a cleric can be punished with the penalties mentioned in can. 1336, §1, nn. 1, 2, and 3. §2. If contumacy of long duration or the gravity of scandal demands it, other penalties can be added, including dismissal from the clerical state. Can. 1365 A person guilty of prohibited participation in sacred rites (communicatio in sacris) is to be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1366 Parents or those who take the place of parents who hand over their children to be baptized or educated in a non Catholic religion are to be punished with a censure or other just penalty. Can. 1367 A person who throws away the consecrated species or takes or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; moreover, a cleric can be punished with another penalty, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state. Can. 1368 A person who commits perjury while asserting or promising something before ecclesiastical authority is to be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1369 A person who in a public show or speech, in published writing, or in other uses of the instruments of social communication utters blasphemy, gravely injures good morals, expresses insults, or excites hatred or contempt against religion or the Church is to be punished with a just penalty. TITLE II DELICTS AGAINST ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITIES AND THE FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH (Cann. 1370 - 1377) Can. 1370 §1. A person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; if he is a cleric, another penalty, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state, can be added according to the gravity of the delict. §2. A person who does this against a bishop incurs a latae sententiae interdict and, if he is a cleric, also a latae sententiae suspension. §3. A person who uses physical force against a cleric or religious out of contempt for the faith, the Church, ecclesiastical power, or the ministry is to be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1371 The following are to be punished with a just penalty: 1/ in addition to the case mentioned in can. 1364, §1, a person who teaches a doctrine condemned by the Roman Pontiff or an ecumenical council or who obstinately rejects the doctrine mentioned in can. 750, §2 or in can. 752 and who does not retract after having been admonished by the Apostolic See or an ordinary; 2/ a person who otherwise does not obey a legitimate precept or prohibition of the Apostolic See, an ordinary, or a superior and who persists in disobedience after a warning. Can. 1372 A person who makes recourse against an act of the Roman Pontiff to an ecumenical council or the college of bishops is to be punished with a censure. Can. 1373 A person who publicly incites among subjects animosities or hatred against the Apostolic See or an ordinary because of some act of power or ecclesiastical ministry or provokes subjects to disobey them is to be punished by an interdict or other just penalties. Can. 1374 A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; however, a person who promotes or directs an association of this kind is to be punished with an interdict. Can. 1375 Those who impede the freedom of ministry, of election, or of ecclesiastical power or the legitimate use of sacred goods or other ecclesiastical goods or who greatly intimidate an elector, one elected, or one who exercises ecclesiastical power or ministry can be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1376 A person who profanes a movable or immovable sacred object is to be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1377 A person who alienates ecclesiastical goods without the prescribed permission is to be punished with a just penalty. TITLE III. USURPATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL FUNCTIONS AND DELICTS IN THEIR EXERCISE
(Cann. 1378 - 1389) Can. 1378 §1. A priest who acts against the prescript of can. 977 incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. §2. The following incur a latae sententiae penalty of interdict or, if a cleric, a latae sententiae penalty of suspension: 1/ a person who attempts the liturgical action of the Eucharistic sacrifice though not promoted to the sacerdotal order; 2/ apart from the case mentioned in §1, a person who, though unable to give sacramental absolution validly, attempts to impart it or who hears sacramental confession. §3. In the cases mentioned in §2, other penalties, not excluding excommunication, can be added according to the gravity of the delict. Can. 1379 In addition to the cases mentioned in can. 1378, a person who simulates the administration of a sacrament is to be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1380 A person who celebrates or receives a sacrament through simony is to be punished with an interdict or suspension. Can. 1381 §1. Whoever usurps an ecclesiastical office is to be punished with a just penalty. §2. Illegitimate retention of a function after its privation or cessation is equivalent to usurpation. Can. 1382 A bishop who consecrates some one a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the person who receives the consecration from him incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. Can. 1383 A bishop who, contrary to the prescript of can. 1015, ordains without legitimate dimissorial letters someone who is not his subject is prohibited for a year from conferring the order. The person who has received the ordination, however, is ipso facto suspended from the order received. Can. 1384 In addition to the cases mentioned in cann. 1378-1383, a person who illegitimately performs a priestly function or another sacred ministry can be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1385 A person who illegitimately makes a profit from a Mass offering is to be punished with a censure or another just penalty. Can. 1386 A person who gives or promises something so that someone who exercises a function in the Church will do or omit something illegitimately is to be punished with a just penalty; likewise, the one who accepts such gifts or promises. Can. 1387 A priest who in the act, on the occasion, or under the pretext of confession solicits a penitent to sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is to be punished, according to the gravity of the delict, by suspension, prohibitions, and privations; in graver cases he is to be dismissed from the clerical state. Can. 1388 §1. A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict. §2. An interpreter and the others mentioned in can. 983, §2 who violate the secret are to be punished with a just penalty, not excluding excommunication. Can. 1389 §1. A person who abuses an ecclesiastical power or function is to be punished according to the gravity of the act or omission, not excluding privation of office, unless a law or precept has already established the penalty for this abuse. §2. A person who through culpable negligence illegitimately places or omits an act of ecclesiastical power, ministry, or function with harm to another is to be punished with a just penalty. TITLE IV. THE CRIME OF FALSEHOOD (Cann. 1390 - 1391) Can. 1390 §1. A person who falsely denounces before an ecclesiastical superior a confessor for the delict mentioned in can. 1387 incurs a latae sententiae interdict and, if he is a cleric, also a suspension. §2. A person who offers an ecclesiastical superior any other calumnious denunciation of a delict or who otherwise injures the good reputation of another can be punished with a just penalty, not excluding a censure. §3. A calumniator can also be forced to make suitable reparation. Can. 1391 The following can be punished with a just penalty according to the gravity of the delict: 1/ a person who produces a false public ecclesiastical document, who changes, destroys, or conceals an authentic one, or who uses a false or altered one; 2/ a person who uses another false or altered document in an ecclesiastical matter; 3/ a person who asserts a falsehood in a public ecclesiastical document. TITLE V. DELICTS AGAINST SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS (Cann. 1392 - 1396) Can. 1392 Clerics or religious who exercise a trade or business contrary to the prescripts of the canons are to be punished according to the gravity of the delict. Can. 1393 A person who violates obligations imposed by a penalty can be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1394 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of can. 194, §1, n. 3, a cleric who attempts marriage, even if only civilly, incurs a latae sententiae suspension. If he does not repent after being warned and continues to give scandal, he can be punished gradually by privations or even by dismissal from the clerical state. §2. A perpetually professed religious who is not a cleric and who attempts marriage, even if only civilly, incurs a latae sententiae interdict, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 694. Can. 1395 §1. A cleric who lives in concubinage, other than the case mentioned in can. 1394, and a cleric who persists with scandal in another external sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is to be punished by a suspension. If he persists in the delict after a warning, other penalties can gradually be added, including dismissal from the clerical state. §2. A cleric who in another way has committed an offense against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, if the delict was committed by force or threats or publicly or with a minor below the age of sixteen years, is to be punished with just penalties, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state if the case so warrants. Can. 1396 A person who gravely violates the obligation of residence which binds by reason of ecclesiastical office is to be punished by a just penalty, not excluding, after a warning, even privation from office. TITLE VI. DELICTS AGAINST HUMAN LIFE AND FREEDOM (Cann. 1397 - 1398) Can. 1397 A person who commits a homicide or who kidnaps, detains, mutilates, or gravely wounds a person by force or fraud is to be punished with the privations and prohibitions mentioned in can. 1336 according to the gravity of the delict. Homicide against the persons mentioned in can. 1370, however, is to be punished by the penalties established there. Can. 1398 A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication. TITLE VII. GENERAL NORM (Can. 1399) Can. 1399 In addition to the cases established here or in other laws, the external violation of a divine or canonical law can be punished by a just penalty only when the special gravity of the violation demands punishment and there is an urgent need to prevent or repair scandals. |
