...and the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes (...et prae oculis habita salute animarum, quae in Ecclesia suprema semper lex esse debet.) Code of Canon Law, Canon 1752 (last line of the final canon for the Latin Church)
After receiving as a gift a Code of Canon Law book two years ago I finally took the time last year during Easter break to read all the sections of the book in addition to the Canons themselves. I came away with an appreciation for what law at its best aims to achieve and how Canon law is used positively to organize and direct the visible social side of the Church. This is a bit odd as I am not normally given to reading legal writings, nor be enthused about them, yet I have to admit I found the Canon Law for the Latin Church to be an elegant law book with an air of simplicity, and both enjoyed and benefited from reading the introductory sections. These same two descriptions, elegance and simplicity, I was later to read at the end of the preface when I reached that section—the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law (established in 1963) additionally described the new code as “precise and true legal science.”
As I sat down to write this month’s article it was Divine Mercy Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter where we take a special look at God’s great mercy, and my attention was taken to my Canon Law book on the bookshelf in front of me. I recalled Pope Francis’ words that “remaining only at the level of the law is equivalent to thwarting faith and divine mercy.” Rereading the front section of my Canon Law book I was looking to see how our own Church law celebrated and lived out God’s mercy and keeps itself from falling into rigid legalism.
For many law is only seen as something meant to protect from the negative actions of others and for this reason is tolerated. Saint Thomas Aquinas, however, gives us a broader picture when he says the purpose of law is to make people good (Summa: I-II, 92, I). The purpose of Church law is love and this thought was not lost on the Commission for as is stated in the preface, “It was recalled that canon law flows from the nature of the Church, that it is rooted in the power of jurisdiction entrusted to the Church by Christ and that its purpose is to be viewed in terms of care of souls in view of eternal salvation...and there was highlighted the urgent need of a new reform of the law to respond to the ongoing need of appropriately adapting church discipline to changing circumstances.”
God’s love must always take the primacy over anything else, and while law, the Commission sought to ensure that the revised Code itself was filled with the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2)” they were able to note that since the Code is “fully pervaded by charity, equity, humanity and a true Christian spirit it, it attempts to correspond to the divinely given external and internal characteristics of the Church. It also seeks to take cognizance of the conditions and needs of the contemporary world. But if on account of the excessively swift changes in contemporary human society certain elements of the new law become less perfect and require a new review, the Church is endowed with such a wealth of resources that, not unlike prior centuries, it will be able to undertake the task of renewing the laws of its life.”
Of the several principles, almost unanimously approved, that guided the Commission in their work of revising the Code it was agreed that to “foster the pastoral care of souls as much as possible, the new law, besides the virtue of justice, is to take cognizance of charity, temperance, humaneness and moderation, whereby equity is to be pursued not only in the application of the laws by pastor 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.”
Mercy has been at the heart of revision of the Code and Saint Pope John Paul II was able to write with confidence when he promulgated the new Code on 25 January 1983. “It appears sufficiently clear,” he wrote, “that the Code is in no way intended as a substitute for faith, grace, charisms, and especially charity in the life of the Church and of the Faithful. On the contrary, its purpose is rather to create such an order in the ecclesial society that, while assigning the primacy to love, grace, and charisms it at the same time renders their organic development easier in the life of both the ecclesial society and the individual persons who belong to it.”
Pope Francis, 30 years after the current Code took effect, continues to keep mercy foremost in mind. At the closing of the Year of Mercy he reiterated this when he said, “Even in the most complex cases, where there is temptation to apply a form of justice derived from rules alone, we must believe in the power flowing from divine grace.”
Mercy is granted by God, Canon law cannot and does not take away from what God bestows in abundance.
He who keeps the law preserves himself; and he who trust in the Lord shall not be put to shame. He who hates the law is without wisdom; and is tossed about like a boat in a storm. - Sirach 32:24, 33:2
Below is a link to short video on Saint Raymond of Penafort who is know as the Father of Canon Law.
Saint Raymond of Penyafort, pray for us. Saint Robert Bellarmine, pray for us.