Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise VIII. On Matrimony › Dissertation II. On Matrimony Itself › Part II. On Matrimony, Insofar as It Is a Sacrament, Particularly › Section III. On the Reception of the Sacrament of Marriage › Chapter IV. On Dispensation from Impediments › Article I. On the Power of Dispensing › § IV. On the Power of the Confessor

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Scholion. Things to Be Noted Regarding the Power of Dispensing

809.

I. Regarding the interpretation of power.

  1. Ordinary power of dispensing and power delegated for the whole range of affairs is to be interpreted broadly; any other power strictly (canons 50; 66, § 1; 200, § 1).

  2. To one to whom power has been delegated are also understood to have been granted those things without which the same power could not be exercised (canon 200, § 1); wherefore in the faculty of dispensing there is also included the power of absolving from ecclesiastical penalties, if any perhaps stand in the way, but only for the effect of obtaining the dispensation (canon 66, § 3). Nevertheless, when a declaratory or condemnatory sentence has been issued, one excommunicated, personally interdicted, or suspended cannot validly obtain any pontifical favor unless mention of the excommunication is made in the pontifical rescript (canons 2265, § 2; 2275, 3°; 2283).

  3. In marriages either contracted or to be contracted, one who enjoys a general indult of dispensing concerning some certain impediment can, unless something else is expressly prescribed in the indult itself, dispense concerning it even if the same impediment is multiple (canon 1049, § 1).

  4. One who has a general indult of dispensing concerning several impediments of diverse species, whether diriment or impedient, can dispense concerning the same impediments, even public ones, occurring in one and the same case (canon 1049, § 2).

II. Regarding the use of power.

  1. Power conferred for the internal forum can also be exercised in the extra-sacramental internal forum, unless the sacramental forum is required (canon 202, § 2).

  2. If the forum for which the power was given has not been expressed, the power is understood to have been granted for each forum, unless from the nature of the matter itself something else is clear (canon 202, § 3).

  3. If at any time, with an impediment or public impediments concerning which someone can dispense from an indult, another impediment concurs concerning which he cannot dispense, the Apostolic See must be approached for all; if, however, the impediment or impediments concerning which he can dispense are discovered after the dispensation has been obtained from the Holy See, he will be able to use his faculties (canon 1050).

  4. If a petition for dispensation has been sent to the Holy See, local Ordinaries are not to use their faculties, if they have any (canon 1048), unless from a grave and urgent cause; and in this case they should immediately warn the Superior about the matter (canon 204, § 2).

  5. If an Ordinary dispenses from an Apostolic indult, he should observe all the rules which the Roman Curia is accustomed to observe.1

  6. Those who grant a dispensation from power delegated by the Apostolic See should make express mention in the same dispensation of the pontifical indult (canon 1051).

  7. Unless the rescript of the Sacred Penitentiary provides otherwise, a dispensation granted in the non-sacramental internal forum concerning an occult impediment is to be noted in a book to be preserved diligently in the secret archive of the Curia of which in canon 379 (canon 1047).

III. Regarding the forum for which the dispensation is valid. A dispensation granted for the external forum is valid also for the internal forum, but not conversely (cf. canon 202, § 1). Nevertheless canon 1047, after the words just cited, "Unless the rescript of the Sacred Penitentiary provides otherwise, a dispensation granted in the non-sacramental internal forum concerning an occult impediment is to be noted in a book to be preserved diligently in the secret archive of the Curia of which in canon 379"; after these words, I say, continues thus: "nor is another dispensation for the external forum necessary, even if afterward the occult impediment becomes public; but it is necessary if the dispensation had been granted only in the sacramental internal forum."

IV. Regarding cessation of power. Unless in their grant the industry of the person has been chosen, or something else has been expressly provided, habitual faculties granted by the Apostolic See to a Bishop or to others of whom in canon 198, § 1 do not vanish when the right of the Ordinary to whom they were granted has been resolved, even if he himself had begun to execute them, but pass to the Ordinaries who succeed him in governance (canon 66, § 2). The cited canon adds: Likewise those granted to a Bishop also belong to the Vicar General.

1 Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1858.

Things to Be Noted Regarding the Power of Dispensing