Section II. On Censures in Species

Preliminary Note I. Censures are: 1° excommunication; 2° interdict; 3° suspension (canon 2255, § 1).

Preliminary Note II. Excommunication can affect only physical persons, and therefore, if at any time it is issued against a moral body, it is understood to affect the individuals who have concurred in the delict;¹ interdict and suspension can also affect a community as a moral person; excommunication and interdict can also affect lay persons; suspension, clerics only; interdict, also a place; excommunication is always a censure; interdict and suspension can be either censures or vindicative penalties, but in doubt they are presumed to be censures (canon 2255, § 2).

Preliminary Note III. In the canons which follow:

1° By the name divine offices are understood functions of the power of order which, by the institution of Christ or of the Church, are ordered to divine worship and can be performed by clerics alone (canon 2256, 1°). Mass, the chanting of the hours in choir, a public procession, solemn blessings and consecrations, Benediction with the Most Holy Sacrament, and other things of that kind are enumerated; a sermon also is a divine office, but no one is ever prohibited from assisting at it; cf. canon 2275, canon 2259, § 1.

2° By the name legitimate ecclesiastical acts are signified: to hold the office of administrator of ecclesiastical goods; to act as judge, auditor and relator, defender of the bond, promoter of justice and of the faith, notary and chancellor, messenger and apparitor, advocate and procurator in ecclesiastical causes; to hold the office of sponsor in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation; to cast a vote in ecclesiastical elections; to exercise the right of patronage (canon 2256, 2°).

¹ Concurrence according to the norm of canon 2231 seems to be intended.