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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ADOPTION, CANONICAL

The act by which a person, with the approval of public authority, takes as his own the child of another. Where the civil law considers adoption an impediment to marriage, the Church accepts this provision and prohibits the marriage accordingly, either as invalid or illicit, depending on the civil law. Dispensations, however, are granted for just reasons.