|
1. During the course of the centuries,
the Catholic Church has been accustomed to reform and renew the laws of
canonical discipline so that, in constant fidelity to her divine Founder, they
may be better adapted to the saving mission entrusted to her. Prompted by this
same purpose and fulfilling at last the expectations of the whole Catholic
world, I order today, January 25, 1983, the promulgation of the revised
Code of Canon Law. In so doing, my thoughts go back to the same day of the year
1959, when my Predecessor of happy memory, John XXIII, announced for the
first time his decision to reform the existing corpus of canonical legislation
which had been promulgate on the feast of Pentecost in the year 1917.
2. Such a decision to reform the Code was taken together with two other
decisions of which the Pontiff spoke on that same day, and they concerned the
intention to hold a Synod of the Diocese of Rome and to convoke the Ecumenical
Council. Of these two events, the first was not closely connected with the
reform of the Code, but the second, that is, the Council, is of supreme
importance in regard to the present matter and is closely connected with it.
3. If we
ask ourselves why John XXIII considered it necessary to reform the
existing Code, the answer can perhaps be found in the Code itself which was
promulgated in the year 1917. But there exists also another answer and that is
the decisive one, namely, that the reform of the Code of Canon Law appeared to
be definitely desired and requested by the same Council which devoted such
great attention to the Church.
4. As is obvious, when the revision of the Code was first announced, the
Council was an event of the future. Moreover, the acts of its magisterium and especially its doctrine on the Church would
be decided in the years 1962-1965; however, it is clear to everyone that John
XXIII's intuition was very true, and with good reason
it must be said that his decision was for the good of the Church in the long
term.
5.
Therefore, the new Code, which is promulgated today, necessarily required the
previous work of the Council; and although it was announced together with the
Ecumenical Council, nevertheless it follows it chronologically, because the
work undertaken in its preparation, since it had to be based upon the Council,
could not begin until after completion of the latter.
6. Turning our mind today to the beginning of this long journey, that is,
to that January 25, 1959, and to John XXIII himself who
initiated the revision of the Code, I must recognize that this Code derives
from one and the same intention, which is that of the renewal of the Christian
life. From such an intention, in fact, the entire work of the Council drew its
norms and its direction.
7. If we
now pass on to consider the nature of the work which preceded the promulgation
of the Code, and also the manner in which it was carried out, especially during
the Pontificates of Paul VI and of John Paul I, and from
then until the present day, it must be clearly pointed out that this work was
brought to completion in an outstandingly collegial spirit; and this not only
in regard to the material drafting of the work, but also as regards the very
substance of the laws enacted.
8. This note of collegiality, which eminently characterizes and
distinguishes the process of origin of the present Code, corresponds perfectly
with the teaching and the character of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore
the Code, not only because of its content but also because of its very origin,
manifests the spirit of this Council, in the documents of which the Church, the
universal "sacrament of salvation" (cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium
nos. 1, 9, 48), is presented as the People of God and its hierarchical
constitution appears based on the College of Bishops united with its Head.
9. For this reason, therefore, the bishops and the episcopates were
invited to collaborate in the preparation of the new Code, so that by means of
such a long process, by a method as far as possible collegial, there should
gradually mature the juridical formulas which would later serve for the use of
the entire Church. In all these phases of the work there also took part
experts, namely, specialists in theology, history, and especially in canon law,
who were chosen from all over the world.
10. To one and all of them I wish to express today my sentiments of deep
gratitude.
11. In the first place there come before my eyes the figures of the
deceased Cardinals who presided over the preparatory commission: Cardinal Pietro Ciriaci who began the
work, and Cardinal Pericle Felici
who, for many years, guided the course of the work almost to its end. I think
then of the secretaries of the same commission: Very Rev. Mons.
Giacomo Violardo, later Cardinal, and Father Raimondo
Bigador, S.J., both of whom in carrying out this task
poured out the treasures of their doctrine and wisdom. Together with
them I recall the Cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops and all those who
were members of that commission, as well as the consultors
of the individual study groups engaged during these years in such a difficult
work, and whom God in the meantime has called to their eternal reward. I pray
to God for all of them.
12. I am pleased to remember also the living, beginning with the present
Pro - President of the commission, the revered brother, Most Rev. Rosalio Castillo Lara, who for a very long time has done
excellent work in a task of such great responsibility, to pass then to our
beloved son, Mons. Willy Onclin,
whose devotion and diligence have greatly contributed to the happy outcome of
the work, and finally to all the others in the commission itself, whether as Cardinal
members or as officials, consultors and collaborators
in the various study groups, or in other offices, who have given their
appreciated contribution to the drafting and the completion of such a weighty
and complex work.
13. Therefore,
in promulgating the Code today, I am fully aware that this act is an expression
of pontifical authority and, therefore, it is invested with a "primatial" character. But I am also aware that this
Code in its objective content reflects the collegial care of all my brothers in
the episcopate for the Church. Indeed, by a certain analogy with the Council,
it should be considered as the fruit of a collegial collaboration because of
the united efforts on the part of specialized persons and institutions throughout
the whole Church.
14. A second question arises concerning the very nature of the Code of
Canon Law. To reply adequately to this question, one must mentally recall the
distant patrimony of law contained in the books of the Old and New Testament
from which is derived, as from its first source, the whole juridical -
legislative tradition of the Church.
15. Christ the Lord, indeed, did not in the least
wish to destroy the very rich heritage of the Law and of the Prophets which was
gradually formed from the history and experience of the People of God in the
Old Testament, but He brought it to completion (cf. Mt. 5:17), in such wise
that in a new and higher way it became part of the heritage of the New
Testament. Therefore, although St. Paul, in expounding the Paschal
Mystery, teaches that justification is not obtained by the works of the Law,
but by means of faith (cf. Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16), he does not thereby exclude
the binding force of the Decalogue (cf. Rom. 13:28; Gal. 5:13-25; 6:2), nor
does he deny the importance of discipline in the Church of God (cf. 1 Cor. chapters 5, 6). Thus the writings of the New Testament
enable us to understand still more the importance itself of discipline and make
us see better how it is more closely connected with the saving character of the
evangelical message itself.
16. This being so, it appears
sufficiently clear that the Code is in no way intended as a substitute for
faith, grace and the charisms in the life of the
Church and of the faithful. On the contrary, its purpose is rather to create
such an order in the ecclesial society that, while assigning the primacy to
faith, grace and the charisms, it at the same time
renders easier their organic development in the life both of the ecclesial
society and of the individual persons who belong to it.
17. The Code, as the principal
legislative document of the Church, founded on the juridical - legislative
heritage of Revelation and Tradition, is to be regarded as an indispensable
instrument to ensure order both in individual and social life, and also in the
Church's activity itself. Therefore, besides containing the fundamental elements
of the hierarchical and organic structure of the Church as willed by her divine
Founder, or as based upon apostolic, or in any case most ancient, tradition,
and besides the fundamental principles which govern the exercise of the
threefold office entrusted to the Church itself, the Code must also lay down
certain rules and norms of behavior.
18. The instrument, which the Code is,
fully corresponds to the nature of the Church, especially as it is proposed by
the teaching of the Second Vatican Council in general, and in a particular way
by its ecclesiological teaching. Indeed, in a certain sense, this new Code
could be understood as a great effort to translate this same doctrine, that is,
the conciliar ecclesiology, into canonical language.
If, however, it is impossible to translate perfectly into canonical language
the conciliar image of the Church, nevertheless, in
this image there should always be found as far as possible its essential point
of reference.
19. From this there are derived
certain fundamental criteria which should govern the entire new Code, both in
the sphere of its specific matter and also in the language connected with it.
It could indeed be said that from this there is derived that character of complementarily
which the Code presents in relation to the teaching of the Second Vatican
Council, with particular reference to the two constitutions, the Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium and the Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et Spes.
20. Hence it follows that what
constitutes the substantial "novelty" of the Second Vatican Council,
in line with the legislative tradition of the Church, especially in regard to
ecclesiology, constitutes likewise the "novelty" of the new Code.
21. Among the elements which
characterize the true and genuine image of the Church, we should emphasize
especially the following: the doctrine in which the Church is presented as the
People of God (cf. Lumen Gentium no. 2), and
authority as a service (cf. ibid., no. 3); the doctrine in which the Church is
seen as a "communion," and which, therefore, determines the relations
which should exist between the particular Churches and the universal Church,
and between collegiality and the primacy; the doctrine, moreover, according to
which all the members of the People of God, in the way suited to each of them,
participate in the threefold office of Christ: priestly, prophetic and kingly.
With this teaching there is also linked that which concerns the duties and
rights of the faithful, and particularly of the laity; and finally, the
Church's commitment to ecumenism.
22. If, therefore, the Second Vatican
Council has drawn from the treasury of Tradition elements both old and new, and
the new consists precisely in the elements which we have enumerated, then it is
clear that the Code also should reflect the same note of fidelity in newness
and of newness in fidelity, and conform itself to that in its own field and in
its particular way of expressing itself.
23. The new Code of Canon Law appears at
a moment when the bishops of the whole Church not only ask for its
promulgation, but are crying out for it insistently and almost with impatience.
24. In actual fact the Code of Canon
Law is extremely necessary for the Church. Since, indeed, it is organized as a
social and visible structure, it must also have norms: in order that its
hierarchical and organic structure be visible; in order that the exercise of
the functions divinely entrusted to her, especially that of sacred power and of
the administration of the sacraments, may be adequately organized; in order
that the mutual relations of the faithful may be regulated according to justice
based upon charity, with the rights of individuals guaranteed and well defined;
in order, finally, that common initiatives, undertaken for a Christian life
ever more perfect may be sustained, strengthened and fostered by canonical
norms.
25. Finally, the canonical laws by
their very nature must be observed. The greatest care has therefore been taken
to ensure that in the lengthy preparation of the Code the wording of the norms
should be accurate, and that they should be based on a solid juridical,
canonical and theological foundation.
26. After all these considerations it
is to be hoped that the new canonical legislation will prove to be an
efficacious means in order that the Church may progress in conformity with the
spirit of the Second Vatican Council, and may every day be ever more suited to
carry out its office of salvation in this world.
27. I am pleased to entrust to all with
a confident spirit these considerations of mine in the moment in which I
promulgate this fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church.
28. May God grant that joy and peace with
justice and obedience obtain favor for this Code, and
that what has been ordered by the Head be observed by the members.
29. Trusting therefore in the help of
divine grace, sustained by the authority of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul,
with certain knowledge, and in response to the wishes of the bishops of the
whole world who have collaborated with me in a collegial spirit; with the
supreme authority with which I am vested, by means of this Constitution, to be
valid forever in the future, I promulgate the present Code as it has been set
in order and revised. I command that for the future it is to have the force of
law for the whole Latin Church, and I entrust it to the watchful care of all
those concerned, in order that it may be observed.
30. So that all may more easily be
informed and have a thorough knowledge of these norms before they have
juridical binding force, I declare and order that they will have the force of
law beginning from the first day of Advent of this year, 1983.
31. And this
notwithstanding any contrary ordinances, constitutions, privileges (even worthy
of special or individual mention) or customs.
32. I therefore exhort all the
faithful to observe the proposed legislation with a sincere spirit and good
will in the hope that there may flower again in the Church a renewed
discipline; and that consequently the salvation of souls may be rendered ever
easier under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
Given
at Rome, from the Apostolic Palace, January 25, 1983, the fifth
year of our Pontificate.
|