Canon 1403

1. Even when it is a case of offenses which carry by law an

obligatory penalty, the hierarch can abstain from a penal process, and even abstain totally from imposing penalties, after

having heard the promoter of justice, as long as in the judgment

of the hierarch the following conditions simultaneously concur:

the offender, who has not yet been brought to trial, moved by

sincere repentance, has confessed his offense to the hierarch in

the external forum, and adequate provision has been made to repair the scandal and the harm. 2. However, the hierarch cannot

do this when it is an offense which carries a penalty whose remission is reserved to a higher authority, until he has received

permission from the same authority.