Last week’s post highlighted the special faculties granted to papal legates in mission territories, concluding the discussions on dispensations as the fourth principle that led to the 1983 Code. Today’s post examines the fifth principle that influenced the 1983 Code, and it is based on the principle of subsidiarity within the Church.
The fifth principle reads: “Careful attention is to be given to the greater application of the so-called principle of subsidiarity within the Church. It is a principle which is rooted in a higher one because the office of bishops with its attached powers is a reality of divine law. In virtue of this principle, one may defend the appropriateness and even the necessity of providing for the welfare, especially of individual institutes, through particular laws and the recognition of a healthy autonomy for particular executive power, while legislative unity and universal and general law are observed. On the basis of the same principle, the new Code entrusts either to particular laws or to executive power whatever is not necessary for the unity of the discipline of the universal Church so that appropriate provision is made for a healthy “decentralisation” while avoiding the danger of division into or the establishment of national churches.”
The principle of subsidiarity is rooted in the uniqueness of each human person, created in the image and likeness of God. This means that each person has something original to offer to the community. Individuals make up a family and intermediate groups in society, and therefore have something original to offer to the community. The principle emerged in response to the socioeconomic policies and realities of society, where governments intervened in the economic and social affairs of their citizens.
Subsidiarity goes back to the time of Christ, wherein Christ intervened when the disciples could not act. One recalls the story of the epileptic man whom the disciples could not heal. The father had to bring him to Jesus (Matt 17:14-20). This shows that the disciples acted even when Jesus was around.
Subsidiarity as a principle developed in the social doctrine of the Church, and it is indeed “among the most constant and characteristic directives of the Church’s social doctrine”. The social doctrine of the Church, although rooted in the teachings and actions of Christ, was explicitly developed in Pope Leo XIII’s first great social encyclical, Rerum Novarum (1891). Similarly, the principle of subsidiarity is rooted in this document.
However, the clarity in definition is found in Pope Pius XI’s social encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno (1931), which considers subsidiarity as the most important principle of social philosophy. Pope Pius affirms: “Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organisations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help {subsidium} to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them” (Quadragesimo Anno, 79). Since then, it has become a central principle in the Church’s social teaching, and popes have reaffirmed or broadened the doctrine in their social encyclicals.
The principle of subsidiarity “protects people from abuses by higher-level social authority and calls on these same authorities to help individuals and intermediate groups to fulfil their duties.” The principle is imperative because of something unique that individuals, families, and intermediate associations can offer. Denial or restriction of this right undermines the freedom and initiatives. Therefore, the principle opposes some centralised, bureaucratised, and excessive presence of the government in public mechanisms.
The Second Vatican Council also reiterated the need for the principle of subsidiarity “to regulate economic relations throughout the world that these will be carried out in accordance with the norms of justice” (Gaudium et Spes, 86c), “to protect the duties and rights of parents and others who share in education” (Gravissimum Educationis, 3), and to safeguard the inherent rights of the human person, the development and spread of culture, the peace co-existence of citizens and pluralism in society (Gravissimum Educationis, 6).
The principle of subsidiarity also applies to Church governance because the Church is a society structured in layers—parish, diocese, province, and episcopal conference.
While addressing newly appointed cardinals in 1946, Pope Pius XII emphasised the supranational character and universal nature of the Church. He reemphasised that the principle of subsidiarity applies to “social life at all its levels and to the Church’s life, without prejudice to its hierarchical structure”. While addressing the World Congress of Lay Apostolate in 1957, Pope Pius XII also maintained that the laity should be entrusted with tasks they can perform, even better than priests, within the limits of their function. Hence, it is unsurprising that subsidiarity was included as a distinct principle, used in revising the 1917 Code.
The principle of subsidiarity in canon law means that the Church entrusts matters to the lowest competent authority and allows higher authorities to intervene only when the lower level cannot adequately fulfil the task. In other words, the principle means that “no matter that can properly be dealt with at a lower level should be taken to a higher one. Subsidiarity is recognised as an important principle if the exercise of primacy is to guarantee the participation of the whole Church in the decision-making process”.
Subsidiarity in canon law will be examined into two broad categories: the layered structure of the Church and the delegation of the power of governance.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
