The 1983 CCC and its meaning for the life if the Church
Professor Father Alfonso Carrasco Rouco,
The "San Dámaso" Faculty of Theology, Madrid

The 1983 Code of Canon Law was presented by Pope John Paul II as "The Council’s Code and, in this sense, it is the last of the Council’s documents, which no doubt will be its force and value".

Together with those of the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Code already began its process of preparation with the allocution in which John XXIII announced the summoning of the Council, with the very intention of rendering increasingly present the strength and the appeal of the Gospel and of the Church throughout the world. The task involving the renewal of Canon Law had to obviously wait for approval of the Council documents, which were to provide a guide for the new codification initiative.

First of all it is necessary to attribute the correct importance to the publication of a new Code, in the sense of a confirmation of the existence of Canon Law within the Church, understood as the expression of binding needs concerning Christ’s work, and the ecclesial communion He founded, that is based on the Word and on the sacraments.

The need to render visible the theological meaning of the Church’s juridical dimension, within the framework of all the various Teachings of the Second Vatican Council, enabled the structure of the Code to be drafted in a new way, modifying the previous distribution of its books, which were greatly conditioned by Roman law. The heart of the new Code now consists in the books about God’s people and the munera sanctificandi and docendi.

The new Counciliar formulation is also reflected in the fact that, unlike what happened in the 1917 Code, the Code’s principal subject is no longer the clericus, but rather the christifidelis, no longer treated simply as the object of pastoral care. Of course the Second Vatican Council’s Teachings are integrated as far as the particular and universal Church’s Episcopal message and collegiality etc are concerned.

In summary, one could say that following the Council’s Teachings, the Code attempts to integrate the concept of the Church as a "communion" of the faithful, of Churches and of the hierarchy.

The CCC is also a human task and the renewing effort it involved was immense; hence one can identify aspects that might need improving or the absence of certain issues.

In some case it is possible that this is because of the Pope’s foregoing the Lex Ecclesiae fundamentalis, which involved the late integration of a number of fundamental rules in the CCC, not without a degree of incoherence. Other positions assumed reflect the difficulties that Canonical science encounters as regards to subjects that are still the object of discussion between schools and on which a decision has been taken to follow only one; this is for example the case for the concept of the potestas sacra. Other aspects have revealed certain limitations compared to the richness of the Church’s life; as for example in the case of legislation concerning associations. One could mention for example the problem in assigning juridical space to important issues for ecclesial life such as charisms and the great "movements" of the faithful.

A number of issues have been the object of an authentic interpretation by the competent Pontifical Commission and the Pope has also introduced a number of additional rules on important subjects , even modifying the CCC itself.

All in all, the CCC must be considered as a living part of the Church’s life and, concretely, as the fundamental instrument for the reception of the Council. This is the perspective in which one should interpret its publication by Pope John Paul II, who wished to place it within the framework of the Second Vatican Councils’ dogmatic and pastoral constitutions. The pastoral accent that affects the entire Code is not therefore only a passing fashion, and even less an occasional characteristic: the life of God’s People, hence the real and true experience of the Christian faithful in ecclesial communion, must be preserved with all its constituent features within the truth, that it may provide a living and convincing testimony of the Gospel throughout the world.