§ 2. On Causes Against Sacred Ordination

— The very validity of ordination or its obligations can be impugned. The libellus is to be sent to the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments. But if a substantial defect of the sacred rite is alleged, the libellus is to be sent to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.

The Sacred Congregation defines whether the cause is to be treated by judicial order or by the path of discipline. In the former case, the cause is remitted to the diocesan tribunal; in the other, the Sacred Congregation itself settles the question (c. 1993. Cf. Epitome, III, 299 with appendix).

Validity can be impugned both by the ordained man and by the Ordinary to whom he is subject or in whose diocese he was ordained; obligations, however, by the cleric alone who contends that the obligations were not contracted by him (c. 1991).

The mode of procedure is similar to the process in matrimonial causes, with a defender of the bond of sacred ordination constituted (cc. 1995, 1996). Meanwhile the cleric is prohibited from the exercise of orders as a precaution (c. 1997).

Two conforming sentences are required for the cleric to be free from the obligations which flow from the bond of ordination (c. 1998).