Chapter III: Of the Judicial Process in the Dismissal of Religious Who Have Pronounced Perpetual Vows, Whether Solemn or Simple, in an Exempt Clerical Religion

A man professed with solemn vows or with perpetual simple vows in an exempt clerical religion is not to be dismissed unless a process has been instituted, with the prescription of canons 646 and 668 preserved and any contrary privilege revoked.

§ 1. For rendering the sentence of dismissal, competent is the supreme Moderator of the religion or monastic Congregation with his Council or Chapter, which must consist of at least four religious; if any are lacking, in their place the president is to choose as many religious with the consent of the others who with him constitute the collegiate tribunal.

§ 2. The president, with the consent of the others, is to name a promoter of justice according to the norm of can. 1589, Sec. 2.

To come to the instructing of the process is not possible unless there have preceded:

1° Grave external offenses, whether against common law or against the special law of religious.

2° Warnings.

3° Defect of amendment.

The offenses must be at least three of the same species, or, if of different species, such that taken together they manifest a perverse will obstinate in evil, or one only permanent offense which from repeated warnings becomes virtually threefold.

§ 1. For making a warning it is necessary either that the offense be notorious or that it is clear concerning the same from the extrajudicial confession of the accused or from other sufficient proofs which the preliminary inquiry has supplied.

§ 2. In carrying out the inquiry, the prescriptions of canons 1939 and following are to be observed, congruent things being referred to congruent things.

The warning must be made by the immediate major Superior himself or through another by his mandate; but the Superior is not to give the mandate unless after previous information of the fact according to the norm of can. 658, Sec. 1; moreover the mandate given for the first warning is valid also for the other.

There must be two warnings, namely individual warnings for each of the first two offenses; but in continued or permanent offenses it is necessary that an entire space of at least three days intervene between the first and the other warning.

§ 1. To the warnings the Superior is to add opportune exhortations and corrections, with penances and other penal remedies also prescribed, which are judged apt for the amendment of the accused and the reparation of scandal.

§ 2. Furthermore, the Superior is held to remove the accused from occasions of relapse, even by transfer, if necessary, to another house, where vigilance may be easier and the occasion of offending more remote.

§ 3. To each warning the threat of dismissal is to be added.

A religious is considered not to have amended himself if after the second warning he has committed a new offense or has permanently persisted in the same one; after the last warning at least six days must be awaited before progress is made to further steps.

The immediate major Superior, after the warnings and corrections have come to nothing, is diligently to collect all the acts and documents and transmit them to the supreme Moderator; this latter, moreover, must hand them to the promoter of justice, who is to examine them and propose his conclusions.

§ 1. If the promoter of justice, to whom it is lawful also to carry out further inquiries which he has judged opportune, proposes an accusation, the process is to be instructed, with the prescriptions of the canons in Part One of Book Four observed, congruent things being referred to congruent things.

§ 2. From the process it must be clear concerning the offenses perpetrated, concerning the prior double warning, and concerning the defect of amendment.

The tribunal, having diligently weighed the allegations both of the promoter of justice and of the accused, if indeed it has judged that those things of which in can. 664, Sec. 2 are sufficiently proved, is to pronounce the sentence of dismissal.

The sentence cannot be committed to execution unless it has been confirmed by the Sacred Congregation; to it the president of the tribunal will take care to transmit both the sentence and all the acts of the process as soon as possible.

For distant regions, even in ordinary cases, supreme Moderators with the consent of their Council or Chapter can entrust the faculty of dismissing to upright and prudent religious, who must be at least three, with the prescription of canons 663-666 remaining firm.

In the case of which in can. 653, a religious can immediately be sent back to the world by the major Superior, or, if there is danger in delay and time is not available for having recourse to the major Superior, also by the local Superior, with the consent of his Council, the religious habit being laid aside at once; but after the religious has been dismissed, immediately the process, if it has not yet been instituted, is to be instituted according to the norm of the preceding canons.