G
gilliam
Guest
Vatican City, Sep 16, 2016 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has confirmed that the impediments preventing one from being ordained – such as homicide, abortion, or attempted suicide – apply whether or not the man was Catholic at the time the act occurred.
As the law is written, a doubt existed that the “irregularities,” as they are called, applied only to those who were Catholic – and thus those who were under the law – at the time they were committed.
Pope Francis affirmed the definitive interpretation, that the law does apply to non-Catholics who have performed the acts, in a meeting with members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on May 31. The letter was made public by the Vatican Sept. 15.
The purpose of the law is to provide extra protection to the sanctity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders – in the episcopate, priesthood, and diaconate – Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. He clarified that it is not a punishment for the irregularizing act, but merely an upholding of the dignity of Holy Orders.
Canon 1041 of the Code of Canon Law states that, among others, “any person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either” and “a person who has mutilated himself or another gravely and maliciously or who has attempted suicide” is “irregular for receiving (holy) orders.”
Bishop Arrieta told reporters Thursday that it is possible for a dispensation to be granted by special intervention of the bishop if the person is truly contrite, “but a warning sign remains.”
Precaution is required in order to “protect the dignity of the sacrament,” he said.
The definitive interpretation is substantiated by a reasoned, rather than overly formalistic reading of the law, Bishop Arrieta said in L’Osservatore Romano.
catholicnewsagency.com/news/cooperating-in-abortion-is-always-an-impediment-to-ordination-pope-affirms-41809/
As the law is written, a doubt existed that the “irregularities,” as they are called, applied only to those who were Catholic – and thus those who were under the law – at the time they were committed.
Pope Francis affirmed the definitive interpretation, that the law does apply to non-Catholics who have performed the acts, in a meeting with members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on May 31. The letter was made public by the Vatican Sept. 15.
The purpose of the law is to provide extra protection to the sanctity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders – in the episcopate, priesthood, and diaconate – Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. He clarified that it is not a punishment for the irregularizing act, but merely an upholding of the dignity of Holy Orders.
Canon 1041 of the Code of Canon Law states that, among others, “any person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either” and “a person who has mutilated himself or another gravely and maliciously or who has attempted suicide” is “irregular for receiving (holy) orders.”
Bishop Arrieta told reporters Thursday that it is possible for a dispensation to be granted by special intervention of the bishop if the person is truly contrite, “but a warning sign remains.”
Precaution is required in order to “protect the dignity of the sacrament,” he said.
The definitive interpretation is substantiated by a reasoned, rather than overly formalistic reading of the law, Bishop Arrieta said in L’Osservatore Romano.
catholicnewsagency.com/news/cooperating-in-abortion-is-always-an-impediment-to-ordination-pope-affirms-41809/