Last week’s post examined the reform of the penal law in reducing the number of latae sententiae penalties. Penal law in the 1983 Code is in Book VI and is titled “Sanctions in the Church.” In 2021, Pope Francis, through the apostolic constitution Pascite Gregem Dei, promulgated a completely new Book VI of the 1983 Code, entirely replacing the 1983 version. Today’s post explores the background to this new Book VI.
The revision of the penal law dates to 28 September 2007, when Pope Benedict XVI mandated that the then-Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (PCLT) review Book VI of the CIC 83. According to the secretary of the Council, Juan Ignacio Arrieta, “the initiative sprang from a deeply held conviction of the Pontiff, the fruit of years of personal experience, and from his concern for the integrity and the consistent application of Church discipline”.
This difficulty can be traced to the outlook of the Church Fathers during the revision of the penal norms of the 1917 Code that led to Book VI of the 1983 Code. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a 2001 historical introduction to the norms regarding more grave delicts reserved to the dicastery, affirmed that in the revision of the 1917 Code:
“A ‘pastoral attitude’ to misconduct was preferred and canonical processes were thought by some to be anachronistic. A ‘therapeutic model’ often prevailed in dealing with clerical misconduct. The bishop was expected to ‘heal’ rather than ‘punish’. An over-optimistic idea of the benefits of psychological therapy guided many decisions concerning diocesan or religious personnel, sometimes without adequate regard for the possibility of recidivism”. Recidivism is the tendency of a convicted offender to reoffend.
The first draft for the revision process of Book VI of CIC 83 was sent to about 30 canon law experts in October 2010. Based on their responses, the Schema Recognitionis Libri VI Codicis Iuris Canonici was drafted and sent out in July 2011 for study by various consultative organs. Among those consulted were all the Episcopal Conferences, dicasteries of the Roman Curia, Faculties and Institutes of Canon Law, the Conferences of Major Superiors, and canonists and penal law experts worldwide. The responses from these groups were collected and reviewed by experts who also redrafted the norms and sent them back to the consultors for review. After further revisions and discussions, the plenary session of the members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts examined the final draft. After updating the corrections from the plenary session, the text was sent to the Pope in February 2020.
On 23 May 2021, Pope Francis promulgated the final revised version of Book VI through the apostolic constitution Pascite Gregem Dei. It came into force on 8 December 2021. According to the pope, it was necessary to revise the penal discipline of CIC 83 “so that the Church’s pastors can employ it as a more flexible means of correction and salvation, capable of being applied swiftly and with pastoral charity in order to avoid more serious evils and to bring healing to injuries caused by human weakness” (Pascite Gregem Dei).
The revision was necessary because: “In the past, great damage was done by a failure to appreciate the close relationship existing in the Church between the exercise of charity and recourse – where circumstances and justice so require – to disciplinary sanctions. This manner of thinking – as we have learned from experience – risks leading to tolerating immoral conduct, for which mere exhortations or suggestions are insufficient remedies. This situation often carries the danger that, over time, such conduct may become entrenched, making correction more difficult and, in many cases, creating scandal and confusion among the faithful. For this reason, it becomes necessary for bishops and superiors to inflict penalties. Negligence on the part of a bishop in resorting to the penal system is a sign that he has failed to carry out his duties honestly and faithfully” (Pascite Gregem Dei).
Hence, Pope Francis reiterated the necessity of penal canonical law. In his words,
“Charity thus demands that the Church’s pastors resort to the penal system whenever it is required, keeping in mind the three aims that make it necessary in the ecclesial community: the restoration of the demands of justice, the correction of the guilty party and the repair of scandals” (Pascite Gregem Dei).
Furthermore, he emphasised the spirituality of penal canonical law. In his words, “canonical sanctions also have a reparative and salvific end, and are primarily directed to the good of the faithful. In this sense, they represent a positive means for the realisation of the Kingdom and for rebuilding justice in the community of the faithful, who are called to personal and common sanctification” (Pascite Gregem Dei).
The President and Secretary of the PCLT corroborated these points at the 1 June 2021 press conference to present the revised Book VI. The president, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, maintained that the presence of some irregular situations within communities has necessitated the need “to rediscover criminal law, to use it more frequently, to improve the possibilities of its concrete application, in order to better define “a systematic and up-to-date framework of constantly evolving reality”.
On his part, the secretary, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, maintained that after the promulgation of CIC 83, Ordinaries, among other challenges they faced in the application of penal norms, had the concrete difficulty “in combining the demands of charity with those required by justice”. He also described the three main criteria that guided the reform.
First, the revision sought to reduce the scope of discretion previously left to the authority, thereby giving them precise guidance in applying the law. This was also to ensure uniformity in the application of penal norms throughout the Church. The second criterion was to ensure the protection of the community, reparation of scandal, and compensation for damage. The third criterion was to provide pastors with the necessary means to prevent offences and, while guaranteeing that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, ensure timely intervention to avoid worsening of cases.
The features of the new Book VI include the modification of various existing laws, the introduction of several new types of crime corresponding to the growing need in the Church, improvement of the technical aspect, especially regarding the right to self-defence, prescription of penal action, and the need for greater precision in the determination of penalties. The new text also reduces the cases in which the imposition of a sanction is left to the discretion of the ecclesiastical authorities (Pascite Gregem Dei).
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
