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Project

The recent renewal of canonical penal law. A legal-social approach.

The penal law within the Latin Catholic Church is in full evolution.

The new norms concerning the most serious delicts, reserved for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), were promulgated on 30 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II in his Motu Proprio "Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela" (abbreviated as normae SST) and during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI the canon law was further renewed. On 21 May 2010, the CDF issued a series of norms, both substantial (substantive penal law) and procedural (procedural penal law), which fall directly within its competence. These new norms concern the delicta graviora, also called the 'reserved delicts'.A partly amended, partly updated version of these standards was published on 7 December 2021, following approval by Pope Francis in Rescriptum ex Audientia SS.mi on 11 October 2021. They were incorporated into Book VI of the CIC 2021.

The codification of the revised Book VI of the CIC is now a fact. Before promulgating the renewed Codex, a schedule of recognitionis was sent to all the bishops' conferences belonging to the Latin Church in 2011. These comments are reviewed and studied by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. On 21 February 2020, the draft texts were submitted to Pope Francis. Afterwards, additional amendments were incorporated into the canones. The promulgation of the renewed Book VI of the CIC by Pope Francis through the Apostolic Constitution 'Pascite Gregem Dei' took place on 23 May 2021, and was published in L'Osservatore Romano on 1 June 2021. The renewed canon penal code came into force on 8 December 2021.

In the course of my research, I would like to identify the main shifts in emphasis in substantive penal law, compared to Book VI CIC 1983. Obviously, I cannot examine the totality of the renewed canonical penal law.I would like to delineate my research in concrete terms, by means of a number of capita selecta.

In addition to this purely canonical perspective, I would like to test the renewed Book VI CIC against the evolution of society and see whether there are any relevant cross-references with secular Belgian and supranational criminal law.

Date:14 Oct 2019 →  14 Oct 2023
Keywords:canon law - Book VI
Disciplines:Law not elsewhere classified
Project type:PhD project