§ 1. On The Care And Custody Of The Goods Of The Church

2244. • Principles. I. It is forbidden to CLERICS and RELIGIOUS to ALIENATE ecclesiastical goods of any pious place whatever, without the Pontifical good pleasure and without the due solemnities.² Thus it has generally been established by Paul II in the Extravagant Ambitiosae, which Pius IX confirmed through the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis. - See n. 1353.³

II. Clerics, and other ADMINISTRATORS of ecclesiastical goods or of pious places, are held to manage them as good fathers of families, and to provide that they not only suffer no detriment, but also that, insofar as it can be done, they come into a better state. - Therefore it is theirs to take care that if buildings need repair, they be repaired opportunely; that estates be cultivated; that alienated things be vindicated; that things lost be recovered; and that debtors be compelled to payment. - But if by their fault something perishes, or becomes worse, they are held for the damage⁴ (cf. n. 975).

Note. What was established in the Clementine Quia contingit de Xenodochiis, namely that their administrators "like tutors are held to furnish an oath, - to make an inventory of the goods, - and to render an account of their administration each year to Ordinaries or to others to whom the places are subject": this ought also to be extended to the administrators of Chapters, Collegiate churches, parishes, and all other benefices.⁵