Canon 132

1. When a patriarchal see is impeded for whatever reason so

that the patriarch cannot communicate even by letter with the

eparchial bishops of the Church over which he presides, the

governance of the patriarchal Church according to the norms of

can. 130 is in the control of the eparchial bishop inside the

territorial boundaries of the same Church who is the senior according to ordination, who himself is not impeded, unless the

patriarch designated another bishop or in an extreme case of

necessity even a priest. 2. A patriarch is impeded when he

cannot communicate even by letter with the Christian faithful of

his own eparchy; the governance of the same eparchy is the responsibility of the protosyncellus; if he himself is impeded, it

is the responsibility of the one whom the patriarch designates or

the one who governs the patriarchal Church in the interim. 3.

Whoever takes up the interim governance is to notify the Roman

Pontiff as soon as possible of the impeded patriarchal see and of

his assumption of the governance.