Latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae#Latae sententiae sanctions

{{short description|Ways sentences are imposed in the Catholic Church}}{{Primary sources|date=May 2022}}

{{lang|la|Latae sententiae}} (Latin meaning: "of a judgment having been brought") and {{lang|la|ferendae sententiae}} (Latin meaning: "of a judgment having to be brought") are ways sentences are imposed in the Catholic Church in its canon law.[https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/latae-sententiae/ "latae sententiae", Treccani]

A {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} penalty is a penalty the liability for which is imposed {{lang|la|ipso facto}}, automatically, by force of the law itself, at the very moment a law is contravened; the fact that the offender is subject to the penalty is thus axiomatic. A {{lang|la|ferendae sententiae}} penalty is a penalty that is imposed on a guilty party only after a case has been brought and decided by an authority in the Church.{{cite web|title=Can. 1314|url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib6-cann1311-1363_en.html#TITLE_II.|access-date=2008-06-01|work=Code of Canon Law}}

The 1983 Code of Canon Law, which binds Catholics of the Latin Church, inflicts {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} censures for certain forbidden actions. The current canon law that binds members of the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, does not include {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} penalties.{{Cite web |date=2015-09-26 |title=Automatic censures should be eliminated from Church law |url=https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/26/automatic-censures-should-be-eliminated-from-church-law/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=In the Light of the Law |language=en}}

The application of a latae sententiae penalty requires no intervention by a judge. It falls therefore mainly to individual faithful who, if they have committed a crime for which a latae sententiae penalty is envisaged, must conscientiously assess the existence of some mitigating circumstance.{{Cite thesis |last=D'Auria |first=Andrea |title=L'imputabilità nel diritto penale canonico |date=1997 |publisher=Ed. Pontificia università gregoriana |place=Roma |isbn=8876527451}}

Penalties in the 1983 ''Code of Canon Law''

{{see also|List of excommunicable offences in the Catholic Church}}

The censures that the 1983 Code of Canon Law envisages are excommunication, interdict, and suspension. Excommunication prohibits participation in certain forms of liturgical worship and church governance.{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM |title=Can. 1331 |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}} Interdict involves the same liturgical restrictions as excommunication, but does not affect participation in church governance.{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM |title=Can. 1332 |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}} Suspension, which affects only members of the clergy, prohibits certain acts by a cleric, whether the acts are of a religious character deriving from his ordination ("acts of the power of orders") or are exercises of his power of governance or of rights and functions attached to the office he holds.{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM |title=Can. 1333 |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}}

= ''Latae sententiae'' sanctions =

== ''Latae sententiae e''xcommunications ==

Unless the excusing circumstances outlined in canons 1321–1330{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib6-cann1311-1363_en.html#TITLE_IV. |title=Cann. 1321-1330 |access-date=2019-09-29 |work=Code of Canon Law}} exist, the 1983 Code of Canon Law (significantly updated in 2021){{Cite web |last=Service |first=Catholic News |date=2021-06-01 |title=Pope promulgates revised canon law on crimes, punishments |url=https://www.catholicnews.com/pope-promulgates-revised-canon-law-on-crimes-punishments/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601135725/https://www.catholicnews.com/pope-promulgates-revised-canon-law-on-crimes-punishments/ |archive-date=June 1, 2021 |access-date=2021-06-01 |website=Catholic News Service |language=en-US}} imposes {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} excommunication on the following:

an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic;{{cite web |title=Can. 1364 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P52.HTM |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Can the pope just fire a bishop? |url=https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/can-the-pope-just-fire-a-bishop |access-date=2022-03-09 |website=The Pillar|date= 9 March 2022}}
a person who throws away the consecrated Eucharistic species or takes and retains them for a sacrilegious purpose;{{cite web|url=https://dadun.unav.edu/bitstream/10171/44648/1/Practical%20Guide%20to%20Canonical%20Administrative%20Procedure%20in%20Penal%20Matters.pdf |last=Miras |first=Jorge |title=Practical Guide to Canonical Administrative Procedure in Penal Matters |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240703002952/https://dadun.unav.edu/bitstream/10171/44648/1/Practical%20Guide%20to%20Canonical%20Administrative%20Procedure%20in%20Penal%20Matters.pdf |archive-date=2024-07-03 |access-date=14 September 2024}}
a person who uses physical force against the pope;
a person who attempts to confer a holy order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive it;{{Cite web |title=Canon 1379 § 3 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib6_en.pdf |access-date=28 Jan 2023}}
a priest who absolves an accomplice in a sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue;
a confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal of confession;{{cite web |title=Can. 1386 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib6_en.pdf |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=Code of Canon Law}}
a bishop who ordains someone a bishop without a papal mandate, and the person who receives the ordination from him;{{cite web |title=Can. 1387 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib6_en.pdf |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=Code of Canon Law}}
a person who procures a completed abortion (can. 1397 §2);{{cite web |title=Can. 1397 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib6_en.pdf |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=Code of Canon Law}}{{Cite web |last=Pat |first=McCloskey |date=2020-05-16 |title=Excommunicated for an Abortion? |url=https://www.franciscanmedia.org/ask-a-franciscan/excommunicated-for-an-abortion/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=Franciscan Media |language=en-US}}
accomplices without whose assistance a violation of a law prescribing {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} excommunication would not have been committed.{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4W.HTM |publisher=The Holy See |title=The Subject Liable to Penal Sanctions (Cann. 1321 - 1330) |at=Can. 1329 |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081231232106/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4W.HTM |archive-date= 2008-12-31 }}

Legislation outside of the 1983 Code of Canon Law may also decree {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} excommunication. An example is that governing papal elections, which applies it to persons who violate secrecy, or who interfere with the election by means such as simony or communicating the veto of a civil authority.{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_22021996_universi-dominici-gregis_en.html |website=The Holy See |title=Universi Dominici Gregis |access-date=2008-06-01 |author=John Paul II}}

The ipso facto excommunication that applied before 1983 to Catholics who became members of Masonic associations was not maintained in the 1983 Code of Canon Law that came into force in that year. However, the Holy See has declared that membership remains forbidden and that "The faithful who enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion".{{Cite web |title=Declaration on Masonic Associations |date=November 26, 1983 |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19831126_declaration-masonic_en.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=The Holy See }}

== ''Latae sententiae'' interdicts ==

Instances in which one incurs a {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} interdict include the following:

using physical force against a bishop
attempting to preside at Eucharist, or giving sacramental absolution, when not a priest{{cite web |title=Can. 1378 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}}
falsely denouncing a confessor for soliciting a penitent to sin against the commandment against adultery{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P55.HTM |title=Can. 1390 |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}}
a perpetually professed religious who attempts marriage{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P56.HTM |title=Can. 1394 |access-date=2008-06-01 |work=Code of Canon Law}}

An example of an interdict that is not {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} but instead {{lang|la|ferendae sententiae}} is that given in canon 1374 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law: "One who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or moderates such an association, however, is to be punished with an interdict."{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P53.HTM | title=Can. 1374 | work=Code of Canon Law}}

== ''Latae sententiae'' suspensions ==

Automatic suspension applies to clerics (those who have been ordained at least to the diaconate) in the following cases:

a cleric who uses physical violence against a bishop;{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P53.HTM | title=Can. 1370 | work=Code of Canon Law}}
a deacon who attempts to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass; or a priest who, though not empowered to grant sacramental absolution, attempts to do so or hears sacramental confession{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM | title=Can. 1378 | work=Code of Canon Law}} (the empowerment or faculty in question is granted either by the law itself, for instance to those who hold certain offices, or by certain ecclesiastical superiors of the penitents{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3G.HTM | title=Can. 966 | work=Code of Canon Law}} and penitents in danger of death can be validly absolved even by a priest without the faculty to hear confessions, and even if a priest with the faculty is present);{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3G.HTM | title=Can. 976 | work=Code of Canon Law}}
a cleric who celebrates a sacrament through simony;{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM | title=Can. 1380 | work=Code of Canon Law}}
a cleric who has received ordination illicitly;{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM | title=Can. 1383 | work=Code of Canon Law}}
a cleric who falsely denounces before a church superior a priest as having committed the delict of soliciting, in connection with confession, to a sexual sin.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P55.HTM | title=Can. 1390 | work=Code of Canon Law}}

{{lang|la|Ferendae sententiae}} suspension (along with other punishments) is to be inflicted on any cleric who openly lives in violation of chastity{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P56.HTM | title=Can. 1395 | work=Code of Canon Law}} and on any priest who "in the act, on the occasion, or under the pretext of confession" solicits a penitent to a sexual sin.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P54.HTM | title=Can. 1387 | work=Code of Canon Law}}

Effects

If one commits an ecclesiastical offence for which a {{lang|la|ferendae sententiae}} punishment is prescribed, the penalty takes effect only when imposed by the competent ecclesiastical authority. It can also happen that the ecclesiastical authority issues a declaration that a particular individual has in fact incurred a {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} censure. In both these cases the effects are more severe than those of a merely automatic censure.[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P4V.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 1331 §2]

Those under interdict or excommunication of any kind are forbidden to receive the sacraments, including the Eucharist.[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM Code of Canon Law, canons 1331-1332] If the excommunication has been imposed or declared, others are obliged to prevent the censured person from acting in a ministerial capacity in the liturgy or, if this proves impossible, to suspend the liturgical service;{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4X.HTM |title=Code of Canon Law, canon 1331 §2 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=2012-04-03}} and the censured person is not to be admitted to Holy Communion[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P38.HTM#5T 1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 915] (see canon 915).

Remission

Apart from cases where remission of a censure is reserved to the Holy See, it is for the ordinary responsible for its infliction or, after he has been consulted or in extraordinary circumstances in which such consultation is not possible, the ordinary of the locality where the censured person is present to remit a declared or imposed censure established by law.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P51.HTM | title=Can. 1355 §1 | work=Code of Canon Law}} However, an ordinary can remit a merely automatic censure for his subjects, wherever they are, and for anyone present in his territory or who committed the delict in his territory, and any bishop can remit merely automatic censures for anyone whose sacramental confession he is hearing.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P51.HTM | title=Can. 1355 §2 | work=Code of Canon Law}}

If a penitent finds it burdensome to remain in grave sin for the duration of the time necessary for obtaining remission by the competent authority from an undeclared {{lang|la|latae sententiae}} excommunication or interdict that excludes the penitent from the sacraments, the confessor may immediately remit the censure in the internal sacramental forum, while requiring the penitent to have recourse within one month to the competent authority.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P51.HTM | title=Can. 1357 | work=Code of Canon Law}}

Remission cannot be granted to someone who maintains contumacy, nor can it be denied to someone who withdraws from contumacy.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P51.HTM | title=Can. 1358 | work=Code of Canon Law}}