Article II: Concerning the Authority of Dispensing

179. • Since it belongs to the Roman Pontiff alone to constitute impediments to matrimony, whether merely prohibiting or diriment, he alone also dispenses by proper and native right, as in his own law.

But in fact, whether by a disposition of common law or by special indults, the Supreme Pontiff grants to others part of his dispensatory power, and therefore now we must treat of the competence of diverse persons for granting dispensations from matrimonial impediments.