Religion: Easing the Rule of Law

The Pope issues a new and more flexible code for Catholics

Rather like an American President signing a bill into law, Pope John Paul II, flanked by seven top-ranking aides, last week put his name to a document at a ceremony he proudly called "a historic event." The moment deserved such solemn words; the Pope was promulgating a new code of canon law, to take effect Nov. 27, that is intended to govern in detail the religious practices of 796 million Roman Catholics around the world.* It is the first revision of the statutes since 1917.

The code is the latest manifestation of the church renewal begun by the Second Vatican Council, which ended in 1965. Indeed, Pope John XXIII proposed a revision of canon law in the same 1959 speech that announced his intention to summon the council. The new document is infused with the liberalizing spirit of Vatican II; it is far more pastoral in tone than the 1917 code, recognizing the rights of Catholics and minimizing penalties. For example, the number of ecclesiastical offenses that call for automatic excommunication has been reduced from 37 to seven (one of them is having or procuring an abortion). Decision-making is decentralized; national councils of bishops may determine, for instance, the full list of holy days on which attendance at Mass is required and establish rules for mixed marriages. In all, the number of canons has been cut from 2,414 to 1,752.

In keeping with Vatican II, the new code emphasizes the role to be played by lay Catholics as part of the "people of God." Various provisions explicitly authorize them to perform certain liturgical functions, such as reading the Old Testament lessons and epistles at Mass, helping to administer a diocese, serving on marriage tribunals and even running parishes if no priest is available.

The changes vastly increase the role of women, allowing them to perform most of the lay functions that can now be handled by men. But the new code is still discriminatory: women may not be ordained as priests, and are even barred from being permanent lay readers and servers at Mass. Complains President Donna Quinn of the liberal National Coalition of American Nuns: "They say be happy and content with what you're given, but American society and Catholic women have moved beyond that. It's the same as excluding people on the basis of color."

Of special interest to American Catholics is jurisdiction over annulments. Under a special papal dispensation granted in 1970, U.S. and Australian Catholics have normally been able to get an annulment after an ecclesiastical trial within their own diocese. If the court decrees that the marriage was never validly contracted, the individuals are free to marry again. In both the U.S. and Australia the bishops' conference has the right to waive a second trial of the marriage's validity, which is required for Catholics elsewhere in the world. Nor does Rome review American cases as it might those from other nations. The revised canon law essentially endorses the American system, with some procedural modifications.