The Catholic Church and a Person’s Right to Privacy and Protection of His Good Reputation

Abstract

In the Roman Catholic Church, a person’s right to privacy and to the protection of a good reputation are regulated in can. 220 CIC (cf. c. 23 CCEO). Unfortunately, the scope of the rights protected under this canon has not been given a uniform definition either in the legislation or in the doctrine, which means that the Christian faithful often encounter problems in the enjoyment of their rights.
 In view of this, I embarked on an attempt to define the scope of the right to privacy and protection of one’s good reputation, both from the vantage point of substantive law as well as from the perspective of persons vindicating this right. The second aim of the research conducted for this publication was to determine whether the nature of these rights is absolute, or whether they may be subject to restriction, and if so, on what grounds.