172. Ecclesiastical Goods

Last week’s post focused on the unlawful exercise of the sacred ministry. From today, the posts will focus on regulatory and penal norms concerning the acquisition, possession, administration, and alienation of ecclesiastical goods. Discussions on ecclesiastical goods are delicate and complex because they require distinguishing between a private and juridical person and between a private juridical person and a public juridical person. The American English translation uses ‘juridic’ instead of ‘juridical’. Today’s post focuses on ecclesiastical goods.

On the definition of ecclesiastical goods, canon 1257 states: “§1 All temporal goods belonging to the universal Church, to the Apostolic See or to other public juridical persons in the Church, are ecclesiastical goods and are regulated by the canons which follow, as well as by their own statutes. §2 Unless it is otherwise expressly provided, temporal goods belonging to a private juridical person are regulated by its own statutes, not by these canons.”

One acquires a canonical personality through baptism in the Catholic Church or reception into the Church for those not baptised in the Catholic Church. Generally, a person in canon law can exercise certain rights and fulfil certain obligations in one’s own name. A physical person is an individual human being, while a juridical person is an aggregate of persons or things (cf. Can 115 §1).

Canon 114 explains: “§1 Aggregates of persons or of things which are directed to a purpose befitting the Church’s mission, which transcends the purpose of the individuals, are constituted juridical persons either by a provision of the law itself or by a special concession given in the form of a decree by the competent authority. §2 The purposes indicated in §1 are understood to be those which concern works of piety, of the apostolate or of charity, whether spiritual or temporal. §3 The competent ecclesiastical authority is not to confer juridical personality except on those aggregates of persons or of things which aim at a genuinely useful purpose and which, all things considered, have the means which are foreseen to be sufficient to achieve the purpose in view.”

Hence, the first clarification is that the private temporal goods of individual members of the faithful, including clerics, are not ecclesiastical goods. Ordinarily, this also concerns the religious. However, depending on the nature of the institute, a religious may no longer own personal property.

Canon 668 provides “§1 Before their first profession, members are to cede the administration of their goods to whomsoever they wish and, unless the constitutions provide otherwise, they are freely to make dispositions concerning the use and enjoyment of these goods. At least before perpetual profession, they are to make a will which is valid also in civil law. §3 Whatever a religious acquires by personal labour, or on behalf of the institute, belongs to the institute. Whatever comes to a religious in any way through pension, grant or insurance also passes to the institute, unless the institute’s own law decrees otherwise. §5 Professed religious who, because of the nature of their institute, totally renounce their goods, lose the capacity to acquire and possess goods; actions of theirs contrary to the vow of poverty are therefore invalid. Whatever they acquire after renunciation belongs to the institute, in accordance with the institute’s own law.”

The second category distinguishes between private juridical person and public juridical person. Canon 116 §1 states: “Public juridical persons are aggregates of persons or of things which are established by the competent ecclesiastical authority so that, within the limits allotted to them in the name of the Church, and in accordance with the provisions of law, they might fulfil the specific task entrusted to them for the public good. Other juridical persons are private.”

Therefore, the distinguishing features of public juridical persons are: (a) they are established by the competent ecclesiastical authority by the law itself or a decree from the competent authority. The authority is either the Holy See, Episcopal Conference, or diocesan Bishop. (b)  they carry out their task “in the name of the Church”. This means that the public juridical person acts in the name of the Church and not in its own name. Canon 114 §2 identifies the tasks as concerning “works of piety, of the apostolate or of charity, whether spiritual or temporal”. (c) they carry out their task for “the public good”. This means they act for the benefit of all the faithful. Public juridical persons established by law itself include ecclesiastical provinces, parishes, religious institutes, provinces and houses. Public juridical persons established by a decree include the Conference of major religious superiors.

Private juridical persons are established only by a special decree of the competent authority. These bodies often began from private individuals as private associations of the faithful. Canon 322 §2 provides that private association of the faithful can only acquire a juridical personality when the competent ecclesiastical authority approves its statutes. However, this approval does not change the private nature of the association. Examples of private juridical persons are the various pious associations in the Church whose statutes have been approved. Private associations whose statutes have not been approved do not have a juridical personality.

Having said these, one returns to ecclesiastical goods. Canon 1257 states: “§1 All temporal goods belonging to the universal Church, to the Apostolic See or to other public juridical persons in the Church, are ecclesiastical goods and are regulated by the canons which follow, as well as by their own statutes. §2 Unless it is otherwise expressly provided, temporal goods belonging to a private juridical person are regulated by its own statutes, not by these canons.”

This distinction is very important in canon law because it explains the extent of involvement of the parish priest and the Ordinary regarding temporal goods in the Church. For instance, canon 1276 states: “§1 Ordinaries must carefully supervise the administration of all the goods which belong to public juridical persons subject to them, without prejudice to lawful titles which may give the Ordinary greater rights. §2 Taking into account rights, lawful customs and the circumstances, Ordinaries are to regulate the whole matter of the administration of ecclesiastical goods by issuing special instructions, within the limits of universal and particular law.”

Canon 1287 §1 provides that administrators of ecclesiastical goods, both clerical and lay “are bound to submit each year to the local Ordinary an account of their administration, which he is to pass on to his finance committee for examination.” The second paragraph states: “Administrators are to render accounts to the faithful concerning the goods they have given to the Church, in accordance with the norms to be laid down by particular law.”

This above canon explains why the bishop can punish parish priests or other administrators who refuse to submit their annual financial account for abuse of ecclesiastical office. However, he does not do so for pious associations. The reason is simple: the goods of the pious association (private juridical person or not) are not ecclesiastical goods and are not governed by the norms of Book V of the Code of Canon Law. The Ordinary can intervene during a crisis because he has to exercise vigilance, but the association is not obliged to send him an annual financial report. Although the temporal goods of religious institutes are also ecclesiastical goods (cf. Can. 635), the institutes do not send an annual account to the diocesan bishop because they enjoy autonomy (cf. Can. 586). Furthermore, the status of the associations, institutes, and societies determines the extent of their autonomy. Those with pontifical right enjoy more autonomy than those with only a diocesan right.

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