In the canon law jurisprudence of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from direct legal obligation in certain cases. [1] Its purpose is to change the harshness that often results from the strict application of general laws in certain cases, and its essence is to preserve the law by suspending its application in such cases. [2] Since the first half of the twentieth century, the current practice of the Roman Catholic Church has been based on the decisions of the Council of Trent, which left medieval theory intact while trying to protect itself from its abuses. The proposal of the Gallican and Spanish bishops to subordinate the power of papal dispensation to the consent of the Church at the General Council was rejected, and even the canons of the Council of Trent itself, with regard to the Reform of morality or ecclesiastical discipline, were described as « salvation of the authority of the Holy See » (Sess. xxv. cap. 21, of ref.). At the same time, all dispensations, whether papal or not, were to be granted only for just and urgent reasons or for a decisive benefit to the Church (urgens justaque causa et major quandoque utilitas) and in any case free of charge. The payment of money for an exemption was made ipso facto in order to render the exemption null and void (Sess. xxv.

cap. 18, de ref.). [2] Henry VIII`s first marriage. Catherine of Aragon needed a papal dispensation, as she violated canon law on affinities, as she was the widow of Henry`s elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales. This was achieved successfully, but when he later wanted to divorce, he could not get another, which led to his break with Rome. His daughter, Mary Tudor, a devout Catholic, later sought a secret dispensation that freed her from submission to the basic rules of the Protestant religion when she was pressured under threat of death from her father. [ref. needed] The Council of Trent (Sess.

XXIV, cap. v, De ref. matrim.) decreed that the dispensations should be gratuitous. The diocesan chancelleries were bound to respect this law (numerous papal documents and sometimes clauses in the Indults recall it) and not to demand or accept anything other than the modest contribution to the expenses of the chancellery sanctioned by an instruction approved by Innocent XI on October 8, 1678, known as the Innocentian Tax (Taxa Innocentiana). Rosset believed that it was also legal, if the diocese was poor, to require payment of expenses it incurred for exemptions. Sometimes the Holy See grants great freedom in this matter, but almost always with the indication that all income from this source must be used for good work and not go to the diocesan curia as such. From now on, each execution rescript will indicate the amount that the diocesan curia will be able to collect for its execution. However, he is not obliged to exercise this power personally for reasons of public interest, except in very exceptional cases where certain specific obstacles may arise. These cases are error, violence, holy orders, inequality of worship, public conjugicide, direct or first-degree (equal) consanguinity of the collateral line, and first degree of affinity (legal sexual intercourse) in direct line. As a rule, the pope exercises his evangelical power through Roman congregations and courts. The Pope cannot free himself from obstacles based on divine law – except, as described above, in the case of vows, betrothals and marriages not consummated or valid and consummated marriages of newcomers before baptism (see NEOPHYTES). In case of doubt, however, it can decisively decide the objective value of the doubt.

With regard to the obstacles arising from canon law, the Pope has full authority. Any such exemption granted by him is valid, and if he acts for sufficient cause, it is also permitted. However, it is not customary for him to exercise this power personally out of consideration for the common good, except in very exceptional cases where certain specific obstacles are called into question. These cases are error, violence, holy orders, inequality of worship, public conjugicide, direct or first-degree (equal) consanguinity of the collateral line, and first degree of affinity (legal sexual intercourse) in direct line. As a rule, the pope exercises his evangelical power through Roman congregations and courts. According to the principles established for dispensations in general, an exemption from marriage granted without sufficient reason, even by the pope himself, would be illegal; The more difficult and numerous the obstacles, the more serious the reasons must be to remove them. An unjustified dispensation, even if granted by the pope, is null and void in a matter concerning divine law; and when granted by other bishops or superiors in cases concerning general canon law. Since it is not possible for the Pope to want to act illegally, it follows that if he has been induced by false accusations to grant an exemption, even in a question of ordinary ecclesiastical law, this dispensation is invalid. Hence the need to distinguish in the dispensations between motivic or determining causes (causœ motivœ) and impulsive or simply influencing causes (causœ impulsivœ).

Unless the information given is erroneous, even more so if he acts spontaneously (motu proprio) and « with some knowledge », it is always assumed that a superior acts for mere reasons. It should be noted that if the pope refuses to grant a dispensation for a specific reason, a subordinate prelate, duly authorized to dispense, may grant the dispensation in the same case for other reasons that are sufficient in his opinion. Canonists disagree that he can grant them for the same reason, because he evaluates the latter`s power differently. Dispensation, also called economics, in Christian canon law is the act of a competent authority in granting an exemption from the strict application of a law. It can be anticipated or retrospective. It lies in the concept of exemption itself, which only the legislator or its legitimate successor may grant an exemption from the law on its own initiative. His subordinates can only do so to the extent that he allows. If such a communication of ecclesiastical authority is made to a subordinate by virtue of an office which he occupies, his power, though derived, is called ordinary. If it is given only as a commission, it is called delegated authority. If such a delegation is made by a permanent act, it is called transfer by law. It is said to be habitual when, although given by a certain act of the superior, it is granted for a certain period of time or a certain number of cases.

Finally, it is said to be special if it is granted for only one case. If the power of disposal is ordinary, it may be delegated to another person unless expressly prohibited. If delegated as set out above, it cannot be subdelegated unless expressly authorized to do so; An exception applies, however, to the delegation ad universitatem causarum, that is, to all cases of a certain type, and to the delegation of the Pope or of the Roman congregations. Again, these exceptions do not apply to delegations made on the basis of a certain personal capacity of the delegate or to those in which the delegate does not have the effective competence to grant the exemption, but to an appointment for its execution, for example in the case of exemptions granted in the form of the « commissâ mixt » (see above). By the early Middle Ages, particularly in the 11th and 12th centuries, the Church had developed canon law on affinity and consanguinity (the former designating only a union by marriage, the latter a genetic union) to cover very distant relationships, so that a very high proportion of marriages between small, interconnected European elites required costly dispensations from the pope or a bishop. This was recognized as abuse, and later the covered relationships were reduced. In 1059, the eleventh canon of the Council of Rome recognized the obstacle of affinity and consanguinity to extend to the seventh degree, the height of restrictions. Innocent III, in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), limited both affinity and consanguinity, which required a dispensation, to the fourth degree, and the Council of Trent (Sess. XXIV, c. iv, De Ref.) in the 16th century limited the legal effect of extramarital relations to the second degree of affinity.

Exemption is not a permanent power or a special right as in privilege. [1] If the reason for the exemption expires completely, then the exemption also ends completely. [3] [4] [5] If the direct basis of the right is removed, the right expires. [3] A vicar capitular, or a lawful administrator in his place, enjoys all the powers possessed by the bishop by virtue of his ordinary jurisdiction or by virtue of the delegation of the law; according to the actual discipline, he even enjoys the ordinary powers granted to the deceased bishop for a certain period of time or for a limited number of cases, even if the indult should have been issued in the name of the bishop of N. The same applies to some indults (see below). The vicar general, by virtue of his appointment, has all the ordinary powers of the bishop over the prohibition of obstacles, but needs a special warrant to give him common law powers over obstacles of leadership. As for the ordinary provisional faculties, since they are now addressed to the Ordinariate, they also belong ipso facto to the Vicar General, as long as he holds this office. He may also use certain indults if they are addressed to the ordinary, and if they are not, the bishop may always subdelegate it, unless expressly stated otherwise in the indult.