The restoration of the delict of the deliberate administration of a sacrament to those who are prohibited from receiving it
Keywords:
Restoration, Delict, Sacraments, Administration of the Sacraments, Prohibitions on Receiving the SacramentsAbstract
Among the delicts against the sacraments in the new Book vi of the CIC is the deliberate administration of a sacrament to those who are prohibited from receiving it (cf. can. 1379 § 4). This conduct was punished in the 1917 Code but decriminalized in 1983 with the promulgation of the current Code. The considerable disparity of doctrinal interpretations regarding its scope, taking into account the present ecclesial and cultural context, however, seems to be due not so much to the formulation of this penal norm as to the way in which the prohibitions on receiving the sacraments are formulated in current law. This disparity makes it particularly appropriate that the evaluation of this delict take into account the canonical tradition, according to the indication established in the can. 6 § 2 CIC for the canons that repeat former law. For this purpose, we offer an overview of how this crime was interpreted in the period between the two codifications.
