CHAPTER IV. Loss of the Clerical State

Can.290 Once validly received, sacred ordination never becomes invalid. A cleric, nevertheless, loses the clerical

state:

1/ by a judicial sentence or administrative decree, which declares the invalidity of sacred ordination;

2/ by a judicial sentence or administrative decree, which declares the invalidity of sacred ordination;

3/ by rescript of the Apostolic See which grants it to deacons only for grave causes and to presbyters only for

most grave causes.

Can.291 Apart from the case mentioned in can. 290, n. 1, loss of the clerical state does not entail a dispensation from

the obligation of celibacy, which only the Roman Pontiff grants.

Can.292 A cleric who loses the clerical state according to the norm of law loses with it the rights proper to the

clerical state and is no longer bound by any obligations of the clerical state, without prejudice to the prescript of can.

291. He is prohibited from exercising the power of orders, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 976. By the loss

of the clerical state, he is deprived of all offices, functions, and any delegated power.

Can.293 A cleric who loses the clerical state cannot be enrolled among clerics again except through a rescript of the

Apostolic See.