Original scientific paper
Temporal Church Goods. Fundamental Canons in Canon Low Code from 1983.
Jure Brkan
; Catholic Faculty of Theology University of Split
Abstract
In this work the author has treated, on the bases of sources and
literature, canons 1254-1258 of the Latin Church Canon Law Code;
in the Code from 1983 they are not nomotechnically placed under
special title .The author considers that they are fundamental canons
for the V book of the Code from 1983, "Temporal Church Goods".
The Church is both a discernible organism and a distinct
society (LG 8), it needs temporal goods too, and consequently it "can
by the law of its nature, independently of secular authorities, gain,
own and alienate temporal goods and control them in order to
achieve the purposes of its own." The author has explained, on the
basis of the Bible and other sources (CIC 1917, documents of the
Second Vatican Council) and various records, the immanent right of
the Church to collect alms and to defend its rights to temporal goods,
so that it could carry out in this world the role that the Lord, Jesus
Christ himself, assigned to it. The Church needs temporal goods for
the purposes of taking care of religious observance, caring for proper
support of the clergy and other officials, carrying out the work of
apostolate and charity, particularh/ for the poor. We are talking about
the temporal church goods that belong to the Universal Church, to
the Apostolic See and to other public corporations in the Church; we
are talking about the temporal goods of moral persons: the Catholic
Church and the Apostolic See (can. 113, § 1) as well as about the
temporal goods of public corporations in the Church. The Church is
a moral person through its divine foundation; other church
corporations are such either by the law itself or by the act of
foundation by the relevant church authority (church law). In our civil
legislature a corporation is formed: l.by the act of foundation and,
2. by registration with the proper authorities of government. The Church public corporations are the subjects: of the canon
law, internatlonal law, i.e. public civil law, they work according to
certain legal regulations; private corporations work according to
their own statutes. The Treaty betvveen the Apostolic See and the
Republic of Croatia recognizes the public Corporation of the Catholic
Church and ali its public corporations that possess such legal status
according to the regulations of the canon law. According to the Treaty
and the Agreement betvveen the Government of the Republic of
Croatia and Croatian Bishop Conference and according to the
Croatian legislature, Church public corporations have to be
registered and entered with the proper authorities of government, in
accordance with state regulations, so that they could participate in
legal transactions. The church public corporations can gain, own
and alienate temporal goods and control them according to the
canon law; in cases when the church legislator refers to civil laws,
then the civil laws become a part of canon order, they are canonized,
they have to be followed with identical effects as the canon law unless
they are against the divine law or unless the canon law orders
something else.
Keywords
temporal church goods; immanent law; owning; gaining; controlling; alienating; administrator; ordinarij
Hrčak ID:
38703
URI
Publication date:
19.3.2004.
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