The last weeks explored the virtue of justice as one of the elements of the third principle that influenced the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Today’s post focuses on two other elements of the third principle: charity and humaneness.
As a recap, the third principle reads: “To foster the pastoral care of souls as much as possible, the new law, besides the virtue of justice, is to take cognisance of charity, temperance, humaneness and moderation, whereby equity is to be pursued not only in the application of the laws by pastors of souls but also in the legislation itself. Hence, unduly rigid norms are to be set aside and rather recourse is to be taken to exhortations and persuasions where there is no need of a strict observance of the law on account of the public good and general ecclesiastical discipline.”
Charity is “the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC, 1822). “The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion” (CCC, 1829). Humaneness refers to the quality of kindness, compassion, and sympathy towards others, considering their well-being. Essentially, it is the ability to show mercy and act in ways that minimise suffering and promote positive interactions.
Charity and humaneness are important to the spirituality of canon law because they enable the application of these virtues in punishments, allowing offenders the opportunity to repent and giving them time to do so. Furthermore, they also ensure that the faithful are not unduly deprived of the means of salvation through the Church’s relationship with them.
Charity and humaneness are very evident in CIC 83, especially in the penal norms. First, just like the 1917 Code, the 1983 Code continues to emphasise a humane approach to the application of penalties. Canon 2214 §2 CIC 17, which is a direct quotation from the Council of Trent (13th Session, decree on reformation, chapter 1), reads:
“Let Bishops and other Ordinaries bear in mind that they are pastors and not prosecutors and that they ought so to preside over those subject to them so as not to lord it over them, but to love them as children and brethren and to strive by exhortation and admonition to deter them from what is unlawful, that they may not be obliged, should [their subjects] transgress, to coerce them by due punishments. In regard to those, however, who should happen to sin through frailty, that command of the Apostle is to be observed, [namely] that they reprove, entreat, and rebuke them in all kindness and patience, since benevolence toward those to be corrected often effects more than severity, exhortation more than threat, and charity more than force. But if on account of the gravity of the offense there is need of the rod, then is rigor to be tempered with gentleness, judgment with mercy, and severity with clemency, that discipline, so salutary and necessary for the people, may be preserved without harshness and they who are chastised may be corrected, or, if they are unwilling to repent, that others may, by the wholesome example of their punishment, be deterred from vices.”
The 1983 Code affirms that the Ordinary is to start a penal process “when he perceives that neither by the methods of pastoral care, especially fraternal correction, nor by a warning or correction, can justice be sufficiently restored, the offender reformed, and the scandal repaired” (Can. 1341). Even when one is guilty of an accusation or a penalty is imposed, the law encourages the Ordinary to adopt “opportune warnings or other solicitous means” for the person’s welfare and common good (Can. 1348).
Second, the 1983 Code introduces new measures that strictly regulate the use of extrajudicial process. An extrajudicial process abbreviates the formalities required in the judicial process to expedite the course of justice without eliminating the procedural guarantees demanded by a fair trial. Here, the Ordinary issues a decree (carrying the judgement) based on an investigation.
Humaneness and charity also play out in cases where, in committing an offence, the offender had an imperfect use of reason, acted out of necessity or grave fear, in the heat of passion, or was intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. If these conditions were present and provided the offender did not intentionally become intoxicated in order to commit an offence, the law recommends refraining from punishment if the offender can be reformed in some other way. However, the offender must be punished if there is no other way to restore justice or repair the scandal caused by the offence (Can. 1345).
Furthermore, canon 1347 provides that censures cannot be validly imposed without warning the offender to purge the contempt and giving the person time to do so. Censures (excommunication, interdict and suspension) directly concern the spirituality of canon law because an excommunicated person or one under interdict is forbidden from receiving the sacraments (Can. 1331 §1, 2°; 1332 §1). The provision is to ensure that the faithful are not unduly deprived of the means of saving grace.
Humaneness and charity are also evident regarding the remuneration of clerics. Just as in the 1917 Code (Cann. 2299 §3; 2303 §2), canon 1350 insists that a cleric is entitled to a form of remuneration, except that the cleric is punished with dismissal from the clerical state. Yet, irrespective of this dismissal penalty, the law recommends that “if a person is truly in need because he has been dismissed from the clerical state, the Ordinary is to provide in the best way possible” (Can. 1350 §2). Nevertheless, this support can be reduced in size and form.
Besides, as it is in CIC 17 (Cann. 2232 § 1, 2290 § 1), canon 1352 §2 allows the part or full suspension of the obligation of observing an undeclared latae sententiae penalty that is not notorious where the offender resides is if the offender cannot observe it without danger of grave scandal or loss of good name.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
