BOOK V. THE TEMPORAL GOODS OF THE CHURCH

LIBER V. DE BONIS ECCLESIAE TEMPORALIBUS

Can.1254 §1. To pursue its proper purposes, the Catholic Church by innate right is able to acquire, retain,

administer, and alienate temporal goods independently from civil power.

§2. The proper purposes are principally: to order divine worship, to care for the decent support of the clergy

and other ministers, and to exercise works of the sacred apostolate and of charity, especially toward the needy.

Can.1255 The universal Church and the Apostolic See, the particular churches, as well as any other juridic person,

public or private, are subjects capable of acquiring, retaining, administering, and alienating temporal goods according

to the norm of law.

Can.1256 Under the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff, ownership of goods belongs to that juridic person

which has acquired them legitimately.

Can.1257 §1. All temporal goods which belong to the universal Church, the Apostolic See, or other public juridic

persons in the Church are ecclesiastical goods and are governed by the following canons and their own statutes.

§2. The temporal goods of a private juridic person are governed by its own statutes but not by these canons

unless other provision is expressly made.

Can.1258 In the following canons, the term Church signifies not only the universal Church or the Apostolic See

but also any public juridic person in the Church unless it is otherwise apparent from the context or the nature of the

matter.