Art. 2. Departure from An Institute

Can.686 §1. With the consent of the council, the supreme moderator for a grave cause can grant an indult of

exclaustration to a member professed by perpetual vows, but not for more than three years, and if it concerns a cleric,

with the prior consent of the ordinary of the place in which he must reside. To extend an indult or to grant it for

more than three years is reserved to the Holy See, or to the diocesan bishop if it concerns institutes of diocesan right.

§2. It is only for the Apostolic See to grant an indult of exclaustration for nuns.

§3. At the petition of the supreme moderator with the consent of the council, exclaustration can be imposed

by the Holy See on a member of an institute of pontifical right, or by a diocesan bishop on a member of an institute

of diocesan right, for grave causes, with equity and charity observed.

Can.687 An exclaustrated member is considered freed from the obligations which cannot be reconciled with the

new condition of his or her life, yet remains dependent upon and under the care of superiors and also of the local

ordinary, especially if the member is a cleric. The member can wear the habit of the institute unless the indult

determines otherwise. Nevertheless, the member lacks active and passive voice.

Can.688 §1. A person who wishes to leave an institute can depart from it when the time of profession has been

completed.

§2. During the time of temporary profession, a person who asks to leave the institute for a grave cause can

obtain an indult of departure from the supreme moderator with the consent of the council in an institute of

pontifical right. In institutes of diocesan right and in the monasteries mentioned in can. 615, however, the bishop

of the house of assignment must confirm the indult for it to be valid.

Can.689 §1. If there are just causes, the competent major superior, after having heard the council, can exclude a

member from making a subsequent profession when the period of temporary profession has been completed.

§2. Physical or psychic illness, even contracted after profession, which in the judgment of experts renders the

member mentioned in §1 unsuited to lead the life of the institute constitutes a cause for not admitting the member

to renew profession or to make perpetual profession, unless the illness had been contracted through the negligence

of the institute or through work performed in the institute.

§3. If, however, a religious becomes insane during the period of temporary vows, even though unable to make

a new profession, the religious cannot be dismissed from the institute.

Can.690 §1. The supreme moderator with the consent of the council can readmit without the burden of repeating

the novitiate one who had legitimately left the institute after completing the novitiate or after profession. Moreover,

it will be for the same moderator to determine an appropriate probation prior to temporary profession and the time

of vows to precede perpetual profession, according to the norm of cann. 655 and 657.

§2. The superior of an autonomous monastery with the consent of the council possesses the same faculty.

Can.691 §1. A perpetually professed religious is not to request an indult of departure from an institute except for

the gravest of causes considered before the Lord. The religious is to present a petition to the supreme moderator of

the institute who is to transmit it along with a personal opinion and the opinion of the council to the competent

authority.

§2. In institutes of pontifical right, an indult of this type is reserved to the Apostolic See. In institutes of

diocesan right, however, the bishop of the diocese in which the house of assignment is situated can also grant it.

Can.692 Unless it has been rejected by the member in the act of notification, an indult of departure granted

legitimately and made known to the member entails by the law itself dispensation from the vows and from all the

obligations arising from profession.

Can.693 If a member is a cleric, an indult is not granted before he finds a bishop who incardinates him in the diocese

or at least receives him experimentally. If he is received experimentally, he is incardinated into the diocese by the

law itself after five years have passed, unless the bishop has refused him.