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  • Transfer To Another Church Sui Iuris, Including the Latin Church (CCEO C. 32 §2)
  • Jobe Abbass (bio)

Introduction

Canon law enthusiasts had to feel a certain sense of relief and satisfaction at the recent publication (December 8, 2011) by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts of an official Explanatory Note concerning the interpretation to be given canon 1 of the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium (CCEO).1 CCEO canon 1 states: "The canons of this Code concern all and only the Eastern Catholic Churches, unless, with regard to relations with the Latin Church, it is expressly (expresse) established otherwise."2 For most authors, it was inconceivable that the legislator intended the canons of the Eastern code to apply only to the Latin Church when it is explicitly named. Instead, according to the classical rule of interpretation, what is expressly (expresse) established in law can be indicated either explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, in addition to the nine cases in which the Latin Church is explicitly bound by the provisions of the Eastern code, this writer argued that CCEO could also concern or oblige the Latin Church implicitly by way of, [End Page 641] for example, the use of the expression "Church sui iuris", which could refer to the Latin as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris.3 Essentially, the Pontifical Council's Explanatory Note has accepted this argument in a significant decision that will surely affect canonical interpretation for years to come. Given the importance of the Explanatory Note, which was published only in Italian, an English translation is offered in the Appendix to this article.

In light of the Pontifical Council's Explanatory Note, this article will endeavor to determine whether or not the reference to "Church sui iuris" in CCEO canon 32 §2 can be interpreted to mean also the Latin Church. CCEO canon 32 §2 states: "In the case of Christian faithful of an eparchy of a certain Church sui iuris who petitions to transfer to another Church sui iuris which has its own eparchy in the same territory, this consent of the Apostolic See is presumed, provided that the eparchial bishops of both eparchies consent to the transfer in writing." Soon after the promulgation of the Eastern Code, the problem regarding the interpretation to be given the expression "Church sui iuris" in canon 32 §2 was quickly identified. Indeed, the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, as it was then called, reported in 1992 and 1993 that questions were submitted regarding whether or not that Eastern norm also involved the Latin Church.4 At the outset and by way of introduction to this study, however, it would seem useful to view CCEO canon 32 §2 in the context of the use of the expression "Church sui iuris" elsewhere in Eastern Code since the state of this interpretative question will have a significant effect going forward on interecclesial relations.

Although the expression "Church sui iuris" appears 243 times in the Eastern code, the number of CCEO norms which expressly regard the Latin Church is considerably fewer as a significant number use the expression exclusively for the Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris. There are CCEO canons that make reference only to the Eastern Catholic patriarchal (major [End Page 642] archiepiscopal) and metropolitan Churches sui iuris.5 Then, there are Eastern norms that refer solely to the metropolitan Churches sui iuris.6 The expression "Church sui iuris" is also used in many other CCEO canons to defer to an Eastern Catholic Church's liturgical books or prescripts regarding the celebration of the sacraments.7 In addition, the expression frequently appears only in regards to the particular law of each Eastern Catholic Church sui iuris as that law governs, among other matters, parishes, the sacraments and temporal goods.8

However, since the promulgation of the Eastern code, many CCEO canons have been identified as implicitly obliging the Latin Church as a Church sui iuris.9 Indeed, this interpretation has often been confirmed by the proceedings of the Pontificia Commissio Codici Iuris Canonici Orientalis Recognoscendo (PCCICOR) reported in its official organ, Nuntia.10 Furthermore, the expression "Church sui iuris" has been found to implicitly include the Latin Church in...

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