Claiming Right of Sanctuary

[Scutum_Fidei]

First off, I’m sorry if I got this in the wrong forum, I wasn’t 100% where to put this.

Anyway, I was wondering about the Catholic Church’s teaching on the right of sanctuary today. Apparently the Church removed guidelines on claiming sanctuary in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, so I was hoping someone here would know what they say on the matter now. Do they have any guidelines on who priests should grant sanctuary to and what help they should receive etc?

Any help with this would be great, thanks!!

 

[Antegin]

First off, I’m sorry if I got this in the wrong forum, I wasn’t 100% where to put this.

Anyway, I was wondering about the Catholic Church’s teaching on the right of sanctuary today. Apparently the Church removed guidelines on claiming sanctuary in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, so I was hoping someone here would know what they say on the matter now. Do they have any guidelines on who priests should grant sanctuary to and what help they should receive etc?

Any help with this would be great, thanks!!

This is answered very well here:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=55943

 

[Scutum_Fidei]

This is answered very well here:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=55943

I had a look around before posting and found that thread and consequently read the article in the link, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for, I’d like to know more about the Church’s current practices, rules, etc regarding the right of sanctuary, not the history of it. I’ve managed to find a fair amount of information on the history already

 

[Antegin]

From classical times, holy places were used by Greeks and Romans to avoid execution or exile. Before the renaissance, ordinary subjects had no rights. Sanctuary was a way to balance the authority of the King with justice and mercy for a condemned man. Certain Churches offered it, Kings were obliged to respect it under pain of excommunication.

I can not speak to the whole world, but, when American became a democracy, Catholic Churches maintained the right of sanctuary and it was used to protect run away slaves and native Americans, especially in southern MD. The use of sanctuary declined as 1)Churches rights to offer sanctuary were challenged and denied in the US courts. 2) Rights were expanded to protect all, 3) States offered asylum to the persecuted, 4) finally, the Churches’ threat was greatly reduced.

In the 1970’s in response to: egregious failure to protect Latino immigrants and refusal to acknowledge the Powhatan tribe, several small very old Churches were being used to hide all of the above. Undocumented trails used by civil war underground railroad, were used to move Latinos to farms for work or out of the state.

Priests and religious were arrested and jailed for contempt. The immigrants were returned to their country of origin. Cardinal Boyle was getting a black eye in the press about this. The Churches’ threat of excommunication just did not hold sway with President Nixon or Governor Mandel. What was worse, there were articles in both the Washington Post and Washington Star charging that murderers, thieves and drug pushers were the recipients of sanctuary.

At the direction of HH Paul VI, Cardinal Boyle ordered all sanctuary activity to cease.

In the 1980’s a few attempts to claim sanctuary in a Church but to no avail.

In 1983, HH John Paul II was rewriting the canon laws to reflect the changes made by Vatican II. He remove the provisions for sanctuary without commentary, but I think Washington DC’s experience should give you a pretty good clue.

 

[Rosebud77]

was there not a man claimed sanctuary in a church in London not too many years ago? In danger from I think Salman Rushdie… Maybe one of you with better internet access than I have can find it?

 

[Scutum_Fidei]

@Antegin, thanks for the info that’s pretty helpful with helping me paint the picture of sanctuary today in my head

@Rosebud77, had a brief look and couldn’t see anything about the guy claiming sanctuary in a Church. Wasn’t Rushdie the one in danger anyway (from writing his book?).