Article III. On the Jurisdiction Which the Church Supplies.

344. Declarations. 1. The jurisdiction which the Church supplies is defined as the jurisdiction which the Church supplies extraordinarily, for the common good, in the act itself.¹

a. Therefore the jurisdiction which the Church supplies is delegated jurisdiction from the Church or from the supreme pontiff; but it differs from jurisdiction either ordinary or ordinarily delegated in this, that the latter is present already before confession and, when confession has been completed, remains habitually; but the former is granted only in the very act of confession, so that this can be validly completed, and when absolution has been granted, it is again extinguished.

b. Where the Church is said to supply a defect, one must attend to two things: whether she herself can supply the defect and whether she wills to supply the same. For the Church cannot supply all defects in a sacramental matter, e.g., in the matter or form, but only defects of power which depends on her. But neither in all cases in which she can supply does the Church in fact also supply, but only in those in which she has manifested the will of supplying, either expressly or tacitly.

2. There are three cases in which the Church in fact supplies jurisdiction: a. in danger of death; b. in common error; c. in the case of probable jurisdiction. In these cases, however, she supplies whether the priest absolving otherwise has ordinary or delegated jurisdiction, and whether he knows or does not know that he lacks jurisdiction.

¹ Lessius, De iure l. 2, c. 29, n. 68.

345. In Danger of Death all priests, although not approved for confessions, validly and licitly absolve any penitents whatever from any sins or censures whatever, however much reserved and notorious, even if an approved priest is present.¹

1. Danger of death, in which every priest has the power of absolving, is present not only in grave illness, but also where the danger of death is brought about by an external cause, as in battle, in dangerous navigation, in a difficult childbirth, etc.

From a declaration of the holy see, soldiers constituted in a state of military mobilization (im Mobilisierungsfalle) are by that very fact equated with those who are in danger of death, so that they can be absolved by any priest at hand.²

2. All priests, therefore even one irregular, suspended, indeed even an excommunicated vitandus, schismatic, heretic, or apostate. A priest not approved absolves validly and licitly even when an approved priest is present; but a priest bound by an impediment or censure absolves licitly only when a priest who is free from every impediment and censure is lacking.

Just as absolution given by a non-approved priest is valid even when an approved priest could easily have been called or present, so absolution granted from reserved sins, either simply or with censure, by a priest not having jurisdiction in reserved matters is valid even if a priest having the aforesaid jurisdiction could easily have been called or present.³

3. From any sins and censures whatever: for in danger of death there is no reservation. Nevertheless those who have been absolved by a priest lacking power over these sins and afterward recover must, under penalty of reincidence, have recourse, and indeed: a. those absolved from some censure inflicted ab homine, to the one who issued the sentence; b. those absolved from a censure reserved in a most special manner to the apostolic see, to the Sacred Penitentiary or to the bishop or to another having faculty, and obey their commands.⁴

In danger of death even the absolution of an accomplice is valid and licit, but only in the case of necessity, i.e., if another priest is not present and cannot be called; outside the case of necessity it is indeed valid but illicit.⁵

¹ Cn. 882. The Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 7, has this: "Most piously, lest anyone perish on this occasion, it has always been kept in the same Church of God that there be no reservation in the article of death; and therefore all priests can absolve any penitents from any sins and censures whatever."

² S. Penitentiary, 12 March 1912.

³ S. Officium, 29 July 1891.

⁴ Cn. 2252.

⁵ Cn. 884.

346. In Common Error and in the Case of Probable Jurisdiction.

Declarations. a. Error is called common if all or almost all the faithful of some place think that a confessor is actually furnished with jurisdiction; it is called private if that error is of one person or of a few.

a. In order that someone be regarded as a confessor through common error, some fact is required, e.g., the exercise of the office of confessor performed for some time, from which the faithful of the place commonly regard him as a confessor. It does not suffice that someone once hear confessions in the manner of others.

b. Error is judged to be common provided that, in the place in which the priest hears confessions, the defect of jurisdiction is unknown, even if that defect were known in another place.

b. In a positive and probable doubt concerning the existence of jurisdiction, there is probable jurisdiction, whether the doubt is of law or of fact, provided positive and probable reasons prove the existence of jurisdiction.

Principles. 1. In common error the Church supplies jurisdiction.¹

a. It makes no difference whence the common error arose. The internal reason which determines the Church to supply jurisdiction is the common good, namely lest many souls perish.

b. A priest who hears confessions and absolves after the time of jurisdiction has already expired; likewise a confessor who does not remember whether this sin is reserved in the diocese; finally a confessor who does not know whether the time of jurisdiction has already expired - these enjoy common error. Wherefore one who, while hearing confessions, remembered that the time of jurisdiction had already elapsed, or doubted about this matter, would not have to cease from hearing confessions.

2. In any positive and probable doubt, whether of law or of fact, or in the case of probable jurisdiction, the Church supplies jurisdiction.²

a. It is clear that in the case of probable jurisdiction the Church must supply jurisdiction only hypothetically, namely if the confessor in fact lacks the jurisdiction about whose existence there is doubt.

b. More frequent cases of probable jurisdiction occur in sins and reserved censures, where authors doubt whether some sin committed in determined circumstances is reserved or not.

3. It is lawful to absolve with probable jurisdiction: for since in this case the Church certainly supplies willingly and freely, the absolution is certainly licit and valid.

In order that one can use probable jurisdiction, a special cause is not required, provided that before using it he has tried to solve the doubt about the existence of jurisdiction, lest he use the same rashly.

¹ Cn. 209. Therefore in order that the Church certainly supply jurisdiction, besides common error the colored title which was formerly said to be necessary is not required.

² Cn. 209.