Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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EXEMPTION

The withdrawal of a person or place from the jurisdiction of an inferior authority and immediate subjection to a higher power. Religious orders under solemn vows and some under simple vows by papal indult are exempt or free from the jurisdiction of the local ordinary and subject immediately to the jurisdiction of the Holy See. A diocese not under the metropolitan authority of any archbishop, but under the immediate subjection of the Holy See, and any archdiocese whose archbishop is not metropolitan are both exempt. (Etym. Latin eximere, to take out, deliver, free.)