Synod report proposes sweeping expansion of lay authority in canon law

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A new Synod on Synodality report proposes a sweeping overhaul of canon law that would expand the roles of lay Catholics in ecclesiastical governance and judicial proceedings, including permitting laypeople to serve as judges in cases that could result in excommunication or dismissal from the clerical state.

On September 29, the Canon Law Commission of the Synod on Synodality released its Final Report, proposing sweeping changes to the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. The stated purpose is to “identify the ways in which the theological and ecclesiological insights emerging from the synodal process may be translated into canonical norms.” Among the proposed reforms is a restructuring of ecclesiastical governance that would permit lay people, “both men and women,” to exercise judicial, jurisdictional, and liturgical functions traditionally reserved to ordained clergy, and the introduction of a new clause that would expand the definition of infallibility.

An updated version of Canon 749 §1 would extend the principle of infallibility enjoyed by the Supreme Pontiff and the college of bishops under specified conditions to include “the entire body of the Christian faithful.” According to the revised law, this group, “having received the anointing from the Spirit, cannot err in matters of faith,” the proposal states. “It manifests this characteristic through the supernatural sense of faith of the whole people when, from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful, its universal consent in matters of faith and morals is demonstrated.”

Additionally, a proposed amendment to Canon 1425 §4 reads: “If it happens that a collegiate tribunal cannot be established in the first instance of a trial, the bishop is to entrust the case to a single judge, cleric or lay, man or woman, who is to employ an assessor and auditor where possible.” This would make it legally possible for a layperson to serve as the “single judge” over proceedings that could result in a priest’s “dismissal from the clerical state” or in the “imposition or declaration of an excommunication.”

The commission also proposed an ecumenically oriented amendment to Canon 512 §4 of the current code, opening the possibility for “those who belong to a Church or ecclesial community not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church” to be appointed to a diocesan pastoral council.

Furthermore, a proposed revision to Canon 463 §1 would require that lay members selected for a diocesan synod be designated “such that they constitute the majority of members” for the purpose of “regular consultation between the Bishop and the portion of the People of God entrusted to him.”

Proposed amendments to Canons 230 §3 and 1112 §1 would remove the requirement that a bishop obtain authorization from the Holy See before delegating lay persons, both men and women, to “assist at marriages.” Permitting laypeople to “preside over liturgical prayers” is also listed among the substitute functions that may be exercised “when the need of the Church warrants it.”

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Commenting on the commission’s Final Report, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod on Synodality, said that, “While the whole Church is engaged in theological and ecclesiological reflection on her synodal nature, it seemed important to initiate a corresponding reflection on the norms – the canons – that govern her organisation and the relationships among her members.”

“Canon law, in fact, is the juridical expression of what, in every age, the Church perceives about herself and about that which constitutes the object of her faith, together with the consequences this entails for the way human relationships are lived within her,” he continued.

“Without corresponding canon law, theology would remain incomplete, ‘Like a man with only one arm,’ as Pope Leo XIII once recalled,” the cardinal concluded.