The Discretionary Authority of the Diocesan Bishop in the Penal Law of the CIC : A Legal Historical Perspective (1917–2021)

Abstract

abstract: The discretionary authority granted to the diocesan bishop in the Church's penal law has undergone historical and legal development during the timeframe 1917–2021. This can be demonstrated through legal historical analyses of canon 2214 §2 of the 1917 CIC and its "replacements": canon 1341 of the 1983 CIC and canon 1341 of the new penal law of 2021. In these canons, the universal legislator grants the diocesan bishop discretionary authority in canonically irregular situations in his own particular church. In general, it can be said that the most substantial discretionary authority of the diocesan bishop can be found in the penal law of the 1983 CIC . In both theory and practice, this discretionary authority led to an impediment in the application of the Church's penal law. A similar impediment did not exist in the Church's penal law in the 1917 code. The alterations made in the reform of 2021 have, in theory, taken away most obstacles with regard to the functionality of the Church's penal law.