A Canonical Study
on the Juridical Situation of Married Priests

by the International Federation of Married Catholic Priests

We married priests of the Latin church often do not know the many possibilities of working in the pastoral field which we actually have. The following text provides detailed information on the rights which the new Code of Canon Law provides for us as servants of the Christian community. Our canonical situation is the following one:
1. The new Code of Canon Law (1983) abrogates all disciplinary laws dealing with a matter which is fully regulated in the Code (Can.6 § 1,4). Likewise, all the laws in conflict with the Code are abrogated (Can.6 § 1,2). This means that the quasi-penal restrictions attached to the dispensation according to the norms from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, issued in 1971/1980, are abolished. These norms prohibited dispensed priests from any leading activity in pastoral administration, liturgy and teaching. In the new Can.292, there is left but one prohibition, that is the one from exercising the power of orders. All the commentaries on the Code (except the English) as well as the respective articles of canon lawyers agree about the fact that this is the only ban pronounced by the Code on dispensed priests. What remains in force from among the norms of 1980, is the procedural guidelines on how to introduce and develop a petition for a dispensation.
2. So the consequences of the dispensation are now wholly regulated by Can.292. According to this canon a priest dispensed by virtue of Can. 291 'loses the clerical state.' This is an administrative measure which implies the 'prohibition from exercising the power of orders.' The status given by the law to this priest is now the status of a lay person, except the few (priestly) faculties remaining for emergency cases. Theologically, he remains a priest forever (‘semel sacerdos, semper sacerdos’) but juridically he becomes a lay person. He enjoys, therefore, all the rights of a lay person. Can.6 has abrogated the restrictions of 1971/1980 as being in contrast to Can.292 and as added to this canon, and Can.18 declares that laws restrictive of rights (as Can.292 is) are to be understood narrowly. We must therefore distinguish the faculties of dispensed priests which they have as lay persons (3-5 below) from those which they have as priests in emergency cases (6-9 below).
3. The widest faculty of lay persons (applicable also to dispensed priests) is that of Can.515 § 2 which states that lay persons can take part in the pastoral activity of a parish, under the supervision of the parish priest. This participation of lay people is a real ministry (Can.145 § 1-2; 228 § 1).
4. When a need of the Church requires so and when no ordained ministers are available, any lay person can take over functions otherwise reserved to ordained ministers, that is, according to Can.230 § 3: - ministry of the word, or preaching (cf. Can.766) - presiding over liturgical prayers - conferral of baptism - distribution of the Eucharist.
5. With a special delegation of the pastor, the lay person may preside over funeral services and burials which are not reserved but only entrusted to the pastor (Can.530, 5 in connection with Can.230 § 3). Also, with a special delegation from the bishop and permission from the Holy See lay persons can assist as officiant at marriages (Can.1112).
6. As a priest who in Church teaching remains a priest forever, the dispensed as 'any priest,' validly and licitly absolves any penitent from sins in danger of death (Can.976 and 986 § 2). Since the phrase 'periculum mortis' (danger of death) used in the canons has a larger sense than 'in articulo mortis' (the very moment of death), this can include hospital patients as well as the seriously sick of a parish and people on journeys and in the roads, and even those of advanced age. For those in danger of death 'any priest' is able to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation (Can.883,5).
7. Every priest is allowed to carry blessed oil with him, so that he can administer the sacrament of anointing the sick in case of necessity - outside the danger of death (Can.1003 § 3). This applies to the needs of all sick from accidents in the roads and at home.
8. The canonical situation of the not dispensed but only civilly married priests is almost better than that of dispensed priests. They are no longer excommunicated as up to 1983 but only under the censure of suspension (Can.1394 § 1). Therefore, the rule of Can.1335 is applicable to them (see n.9 immediately below). The excommunication incurred under the Code of 1917 (Can.2388) is abolished by the new law (Can.6 § 1,1) and replaced by Can.1394. This means that they are admitted to all the sacraments.
9. A suspended priest can administer a sacrament, that is to say all sacraments except marriage and priesthood, 'whenever a member of the faithful requests a sacrament' (if the censure of suspension has been incurred automatically, ‘latae sententiae,’ and is not a declared censure, which rarely occurs). 'This request can be made for any just cause whatsoever' (Can.1335). Suspension is a punishment, a 'censure', while the dispensation is a 'favor' (gratia) to which the loss of the clerical state is attached. Therefore the rules on censures are applicable to priests who are suspended because of their civil marriage, their 'matrimonium attentatum' (Can.1394). They have not lost the clerical state but are only suspended from their tasks, functions and offices. Can.1335 declares that a suspended priest can 'celebrate the sacraments' not only in danger of death but also on request of the faithful. Those who enjoy this faculty are the 40.000 priests who have either not asked for or did not receive the dispensation. If their bishop has declared the suspension in writing, the rule of Can.1335 does not apply. Otherwise he can do almost everything at the request of the faithful.
10. To sum up: A priest who has received a dispensation can exercise, in case of a need for the Church, all the faculties open to the laity: baptising, presiding over liturgical prayers, preaching, distributing communion, assisting in marriages, presiding over funeral services, assisting in the pastoral work. Like 'any priest' he can administer, in case of danger of death, the sacraments of anointing, of confirmation, of reconciliation. A suspended priest can administer all the sacraments on request of the faithful. The administration of the Eucharist includes the celebration of the mass. - It is also argued that a dispensed priest may take advantage of Can.1335, as well, and respond to the pastoral needs of people when they ask him as a priest to serve them. IT WOULD BE STRANGE TO PUT A DISPENSED PRIEST WHO IS NOT UNDER CENSURE IN A WORSE CANONICAL SITUATION THAN A PRIEST WHO IS UNDER CENSURE OF SUSPENSION. This is suggested by the analogy of law. The pastoral situation in many parts of the Latin church requires that we utilize these largely unknown faculties and encourage, as well, our fellow married priests and the faithful to make use of them. In the discussion following the publication of this paper, the Vicar General of the diocese of Cologne confirmed that Can.292 enumerates 'exhaustively' the juridical consequences of the loss of the clerical state attached to the dispensation from celibacy according to Can.290 and 291. A 1997 declaration of the Papal Counsel on the Interpretation of Canon Law says, however, that dispensed priests are not apt to do pastoral services and Can.1335 is not applicable to them. Canon lawyers, on the other hand, continue to say that this is only one interpretation among others. It is a rule of law that when two laws conflict or when an interpretation is stricter than the law the more favourable law applies. Can.213 gives the faithful the right to ask the priests for spiritual help out of the word and the sacraments. This fundamental right can never be abrogated. The supreme law of the Church is the salvation of souls (Can. 1752).