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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OFFICE, LOSS OF

In ecclesiastical law the cessation of the right to exercise authority in some office in the Catholic Church. An office is lost by renunciation, by deprivation, by removal, by transfer, and, where an office is for a fixed period, by the lapse of that time. An ecclesiastical office is not lost by the fact that the superior who made the appointment goes out of office in any way, unless the law or conferral ordains otherwise.