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During a recent event Pope Francis stressed the importance of prioritising the care of people and evangelisation in the application of the Catholic Church’s canon law.
Francis spoke at a February 14-18 course sponsored by the Roman Rota, a Vatican tribunal that deals primarily with marriage cases.
The pope challenged the idea that canon law and the mission of spreading the Good News of Christ are separate realities.
He called on canon lawyers to promote and protect the primary right of the faithful to be evangelised and led to an encounter with Christ.
“Your work deals with rules, processes and sanctions, but since people and their salvation are the ‘subjects and objects’ of the church’s law, their rights and concrete needs must be ‘at the centre of your work,'” the pope told the course participants.
“We are accustomed to thinking that canon law and the mission of spreading the Good News of Christ are two separate realities. One might say, schematically: there is no law without evangelisation, nor evangelisation without law,” Pope Francis said.
The pope cautioned against the idea of canon lawyers simply ticking off compliance and seeking convenient solutions to legal problems.
Instead, they must promote and protect the primary right of the faithful, which is to be evangelised and led to an encounter with Christ.
Canon lawyers must work for the good of individuals
“Canon law cannot be only about judicial procedures, but must also be about the pastoral care of souls,” the pope said.
The goal of a canon lawyer cannot be “to seek convenient solutions to legal problems or to attempt certain balancing acts,” which could result in “rigid formalistic and bureaucratic frameworks that neglect true rights,” Francis said.
Canon lawyers and those involved in marriage preparation and family ministry must work together for the good of the individuals involved, the pope said. This includes ensuring that a marriage being planned will be valid and accompanying couples in crisis situations, “including directing them to the church courts when it is plausible that there is a ground for nullity”.
“The most important principle, that of evangelisation, must not be forgotten,” the pope said.
And since “reality is superior to any idea,” the application of the law relies on the virtue of “juridical prudence that discerns what is truly just” for the individual involved and for the church community itself.
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