The last posts examined the necessity of penal law in the Church, the ninth principle used in preparing the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Today’s post focuses on the tenth and final principle, namely, the overall organisation of the Code.
The tenth principle reads: “Finally, as is admitted by all, the new systematic arrangement of the Code required by the revision process can only be sketched at the outset but cannot be defined and determined precisely. Therefore, the new organisation of the Code will have to be pursued only after a sufficient revision of its individual parts, in fact only after nearly the whole work has been completed.”
The structure of the 1917 Code is as follows: Book One: General Norms (Canons 1-86), Book Two: On Persons (Canons 87-725), Book Three: On Things (Canons 726-1551). Book Four: On Procedures (Canons 1552-2194), Book Five: On Delicts and Penalties (Canons 2195-2414). One must quickly note that, unlike the 1983 Code, the 1917 Code was never officially translated into any other language. It remained only in Latin. Another important point is that Pope John XXIII announced the revision of the 1917 Code on the same day he convoked the Second Vatican Council. Hence, the revisions were based on the new ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council and contemporary realities.
In light of the tenth principle, the revision of the 1917 Code was carried out in parts, with the themes arranged as a schema. The preface to the 1983 Code reads: “During the third meeting of the cardinal members of the Commission on May 28, 1968, they substantially approved a temporary arrangement according to which the study groups already established were organised in a new way: “the systematic organisation of the Code,” “general norms,” “the sacred hierarchy,” “institutes of perfection,” “laity,” “physical and moral persons in general,” “marriage,” “sacraments other than marriage,” “the ecclesiastical magisterium,” “the patrimonial law of the Church,” “processes,” “penal law.”
The preface also outlined the order in which the various schemas were returned: the schema on administrative procedure (1972), the schema on sanctions in the Church (1973), the schema on the sacraments (1975), the schema on the procedure for the protection of rights or processes (1976), the schema on institutes of life consecrated by the profession of the evangelical counsels, the schema on general norms, the schema on the people of God, the schema on the Church’s teaching office, the schema on sacred times and places and divine worship, and the schema on the patrimonial law of the Church (1977).
Based on further observations, the various parts were reworked, deliberated in a plenary, and sent to the pope for approval. The pope promulgated the Code in 1983 with the apostolic constitution, Sacrae Disciplinae Leges. Unlike the 1917 Code, which has 2414 canons in five books, the 1983 Code has 1752 canons in seven books. The seven books were also slightly rearranged structurally in comparison to the 1917 Code.
The new Code therefore consists of seven books which are entitled: Book One: General Norms (Canons 1-203), Book Two: The People of God (Canons 204-746), Book Three: The Teaching Function of the Church (Canons 747-833), Book Four: The Sanctifying Function of the Church (Canons 834-1258), Book Five: The Temporal Goods of the Church (Canons 1259-1310), Book Six: Sanctions in the Church (Canons 1311-1399), and Book Seven: Processes (Canons 1400-1752).
As the preface of the 1983 Code says, “it is certain that the new organisation not only corresponds better to the proper matter and character of canon law than the old organisation, but also, and what is of greater importance, the new is more in keeping with the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council and those principles flowing from it which were proposed at the very outset of the revision process.”
The revision of the 1917 Code corresponds with the spirituality of canon law because the revision sought to respond to demands from many bishops “that a new and sole collection of laws be prepared to expedite the pastoral care of the people of God in a more certain and secure fashion” (Preface). As Pope John Paul II affirms in Sacrae Disciplinae Leges, “the Code derives from one and the same intention, the renewal of Christian living. From such an intention, in fact, the entire work of the council drew its norms and its direction”.
He further emphasises the indispensability of law in the Church, and its mission for the salvation of souls: “As a matter of fact, the Code of Canon Law is extremely necessary for the Church. Since the Church is organised as a social and visible structure, it must also have norms: in order that its hierarchical and organic structure be visible; in order that the exercise of the functions divinely entrusted to it, especially that of sacred power and of the administration of the sacraments, may be adequately organised; in order that the mutual relations of the faithful may be regulated according to justice based upon charity, with the rights of individuals guaranteed and well-defined; in order, finally, that common initiatives undertaken to live a Christian life ever more perfectly may be sustained, strengthened and fostered by canonical norms” (Sacrae Disciplinae Legis).
May God continue to help us 🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
