Vatican streamlines process for priests' laicization
June 03, 2009
The Vatican has issued new rules to ease the process by which bishops can laicize priests, the Catholic News Service reports. The new rules-- released by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and approved by Pope Benedict XVI-- makes it simpler for bishops to dismiss a priest who abandons his ministry. Every priest will retain the right to protect his canonical status, but in cases in which the priest has no interest in continuing ministry-- as, for instance, in many cases when a priest leaves clerical life to enter a civil marriage-- the process will be streamlined.
The new rules have no effect on cases that involve priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct with minor. Those cases are handled separately, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rather than the Congregation for Clergy, under the terms of a special policy established by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
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