TITLE VI: THE CESSATION OF PENALTIES (Cann. 1354 - 1363)

§2 Moreover, a law or precept which establishes a penalty can also grant to others the power of remitting the penalty.

§3 If the Apostolic See has reserved the remission of a penalty to itself or to others, the reservation is to be strictly interpreted.

1° the Ordinary who initiated the judicial proceedings to impose or declare the penalty, or who by a decree, either personally or through another, imposed or declared it;

2° the Ordinary of the place where the offender actually is, after consulting the Ordinary mentioned in n. 1, unless because of extraordinary circumstances this is impossible.

§2 Provided it is not reserved to the Apostolic See, a latae sententiae penalty established by law but not yet declared, can be remitted by the Ordinary in respect of his subjects and of those actually in his territory or of those who committed the offence in his territory. Moreover, any Bishop can do this, but only in the course of sacramental confession.

1° the Ordinary of the place where the offender actually is;

2° if the penalty has been imposed or declared, the Ordinary who initiated the judicial proceedings to impose or declare the penalty, or who by a decree, either personally or through another, imposed or declared it.

§2 Before the remission is granted, the author of the precept is to be consulted, unless because of extraordinary circumstance this is impossible.

§2 In granting the remission, the confessor is to impose upon the penitent, under pain of again incurring the censure, the obligation to have recourse within one month to the competent Superior or to a priest having the requisite faculty, and to abide by his instructions. In the meantime, the confessor is to impose an appropriate penance and, to the extent demanded, to require reparation of scandal and damage. The recourse, however, may be made even through the confessor, without mention of a name.

§3 The same duty of recourse, when they have recovered, binds those who in accordance with Can. 976 have had remitted an imposed or declared censure or one reserved to the Holy See.

§2 The one who remits a censure can make provision in accordance with Can. 1348, and can also impose a penance.

§2 A remission in the external forum is to be granted in writing, unless a grave reason suggests otherwise.

§3 Care is to be taken that the petition for remission or the remission itself is not made public, except insofar as this would either be useful for the protection of the good name of the offender, or be necessary to repair scandal.

1° offences reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

2° an action arising from any of the offences mentioned in cann. 1394, 1395, 1397, 1398, which is extinguished after five years;

3° offences not punished by the universal law, where a particular law has prescribed a different period of prescription.

§2 Prescription runs from the day the offence was committed or, if the offence was enduring or habitual, from the day it ceased.

§2 The same applies, with the necessary adjustments, if the penalty was imposed by an extra-judicial decree.