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Canon law of the Catholic Church

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Canon law (in Latin: ius canonicum) is the system of religious laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church.

Quotes

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  • In the Catholic Church, we must never forget that the law of laws, the supreme law that takes precedence over all others, is the salvation of souls [salus animarum]. It is not the prattle of small-talk, it is not the synod, it is not ecumenism, it is not liturgical experiments, nor new ideas and a new evangelisation, it is the salvation of souls. This is the law of laws, and we all have a duty, each in our own place, to observe this law and to devote ourselves totally to defending it. Why must we do this? It is because Our Blessed Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us during their life here on this earth that they had no other intention and no other goal than the salvation of souls. Therefore, in one way or another, and according to our talents and our circumstances, each one of us must do everything we can, making our contribution to save our own souls and the souls of others.
  • Interviewer: In the case of heresy, just as a heretical Christian ceases to be a member of the Church, does the pope also cease to be pope and head of the ecclesial body, and lose all jurisdiction? Mgr. Bux: Yes, heresy undermines faith and membership in the Church, which are the root and foundation of jurisdiction. This is the thinking of the Church Fathers, especially of Cyprian, who had to deal with Novatian, antipope during the pontificate of Pope Cornelius (cf. “'Lib. 4, ep. 2”'). Every believer, including the pope, separates himself from the unity of the Church through heresy. It is well known that the pope is at the same time a member and part of the Church, because the hierarchy is within and not above the Church, as stated in Lumen Gentium (n. 18).
  • There is no authority to declare or consider an elected and generally accepted Pope as an invalid Pope. The constant practice of the Church makes it evident that even in the case of an invalid election this invalid election will be de facto healed through the general acceptance of the new elected by the overwhelming majority of the cardinals and bishops.
Even in the case of a heretical pope he will not lose his office automatically and there is no body within the Church to declare him deposed because of heresy. Such actions would come close to a kind of a heresy of conciliarism or episcopalism. The heresy of conciliarism or episcopalism says basically that there is a body within the Church (Ecumenical Council, Synod, College of Cardinals, College of Bishops), which can issue a legally binding judgment over the Pope.
The theory of the automatic loss of the papacy due to heresy remains only an opinion, and even St. Robert Bellarmine noticed this and did not present it as a teaching of the Magisterium itself. The perennial papal Magisterium never taught such an option. In 1917, when the Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici) came into force, the Magisterium of the Church eliminated from the new legislation the remark of the Decretum Gratiani in the old Corpus Iuris Canonici, which stated, that a Pope, who deviates from right doctrine, can be deposed.
Never in history the Magisterium of the Church did admit any canonical procedures of deposition of a heretical pope.
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