CUM PRIMUM (On Observing Canonical
Sanctions)
Pope
Clement XIII
Encyclical of
Pope Clement XIII promulgated on 17 September 1759.
To Our Venerable Brothers, all the Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops who Enjoy Grace and Communion with the
Apostolic See.
Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic
Blessing.
Ever since We first accepted the care of the
Lord's flock, through the incomprehensible wisdom of the eternal shepherd
presiding over the See of St. Peter, We have received reports from many fervent
and zealous churchmen. Many of them were from pastors and preachers of the word
of God, who travel through the cities and provinces preaching penance and
correction of character to the people. Their unanimous complaint was that among
the abuses and corruptions which they observed and strove to reform in the
exercise of their ministry, they frequently encountered an avarice and greed on
the part of certain clergymen that cried out for correction. As the Holy Spirit
called this the root of all evil, it is no wonder that it draws into more
heinous crimes all those whose soul it fills. It renders them apathetic in the
fulfillment of their duties and in their worship of God. Once avarice converts
them to worldly desires, they become devoted to worldly cares and
preoccupations. They publicly disavow these while they profess that among the
mysteries of the holy initiation, they recognize only God as the portion of
their inheritance. Thus they necessarily become contentious and ready to throw
everything into confusion, so as not to lose some vile profit which they either
hope for or have already received. They are not ashamed to lower themselves to
any lowly duty or service, to the disgrace of their order and status. As a
result many laymen despise not only those who do such things, but often even
the whole priestly company. Rather, let them be bitter and scornful toward the
kind of person whose lawsuits and contentions they must endure in worldly
affairs, or through whom honest means of providing for their own welfare and
that of their loved ones seems to be forestalled.
2. We believe that these accounts are more than
adequately supported by the facts. Indeed, even some monks allow themselves on
occasion to be taken beyond the bounds of ecclesiastical moderation, away from
the concern they imposed on themselves regarding the temporal gains of their
communities. We are thus aroused to satisfactorily remove from our midst such a
corruption, which brings scandal to the faithful and damaging effects to
others.
3. It is true that from the very beginning of
the Church right up to our own times, there was nothing more plainly or more
attentively legislated either by the decrees of the councils or by the
constitutions of the popes who preceded Us. Nothing seemed to be stressed more
frequently or more eagerly by the holy fathers and the pastors of the churches
than that the ministers of the church, both clergy and monks, abstain from the
desire for temporal wealth and that they should remove themselves from worldly
concerns. Not only spiritual censures but also very serious temporal
punishments were decreed for those who presumed to infringe or violate the
canonical rules in this matter. Having carefully considered everything, We
think that there is nothing left for Us to do, Venerable Brothers, other than
to exhort you to cling to the intention of Our predecessors and the spirit of
the church in all things. We exhort you to be zealous in obtaining the
observance due these holy laws by all churchmen-both those subject to your
ordinary jurisdiction as well as those subject to your delegated
jurisdiction-according to the example of the sacred canons and the decrees of
the Holy See and the synodical statutes of each
diocese.
4. In order to clarify this matter, We devote
Our constant attention and that of the Holy See to the religious observance of
the aforementioned laws. At the same time, We approve, confirm, and renew
through this letter each and every canon and constitution of Our predecessors
against those clerics who act as businessmen and who involve themselves in
worldly matters. We mention especially those decrees published and proclaimed
by Pius IV, Urban VIII, and Clement IX, including the most recent one which Our
predecessor Popes Benedict XIV promulgated on February 25, 1741, the first year
of his pontificate, along with each and every penalty and the censures
respectively ordained by them. Similarly, the decrees contained in the
above-mentioned laws as well as their punishments and sanctions should be
inserted word for word in Our present letter. At the same time let all efficacy
be removed from every opposing custom and practice--which ought rather to be
called by their proper names, corruptions and abuses--by which certain
churchmen strive to cover up their criminal dabbling in worldly matters. We
declare and decree that all clergymen-both from the secular clergy and from the
regular clergy of whatever order, congregation, society, or institute, are
subject to and should be subject to all the aforementioned laws and penalties.
We should also mention specifically those favored with special and extensive
indults, privileges, and exemptions. Thus, whoever transgresses these laws
incurs the penalties prescribed in them as well as those applicable according
to the differences of circumstances and the method of procedure prescribed by
the Council of Trent or by the Holy See. They should be punished
notwithstanding any custom or practice to the contrary, even very old ones
which can be considered indigenous to some places, dioceses, or regions. We
condemn, proscribe, and nullify this practice, considering it a damnable abuse
and an intolerable corruption in the present state of affairs.
5. We exhort all of you, then, to watch over
the integrity of ecclesiastical discipline and the salvation of the souls of
all the clergy subject to you, both by ordinary and by delegated law. Inquire
diligently into their course of action; if you discover that some of them are
infected with the stain of this greed and that they sin against the canons and
apostolic constitutions, do not neglect to proceed against them dutifully and
stringently, according to the example of the same canons and constitutions.
6. There are two things which you should
especially beware of in this matter. First of all, do not allow your vigilance
to be foiled by the crafty arts of the evildoers. It often happens that those
who know the decrees of the laws fraudulently arrange their affairs so that
even if their crime should be brought to court, they can be on guard against
admitting any violation of those laws. Sometimes they will use an intermediary
to serve their greed, or else conduct business matters under a different name,
which they record in the tables and account books while they firmly maintain
that they are not in the least concerned in the matter under investigation.
Sometimes they are aware that the more restrictive judgment of the laws is
constrained within certain limits; they strive to behave so that they have a
defense if they are accused of financial aspirations by their superiors. They
can maintain that they were not primarily led by base greed to seek profit, but
that they worked solely at avoiding evil through cautious planning and that
they obtained an undesired profit through the fortuitous goodness of time.
Sometimes it is not their own property which is involved in the business
matters but that of their relatives or those joined to them by some other bond
of need. They will say that they obtain their support out of the duty of love or
under the title of management.
7. We are sufficiently aware, through Our own
experience in exercising the episcopal office, of how
difficult it is to make a judgment in certain cases in which the good or bad
intention of the one who is accused of unlawful business is of paramount
importance. However, you should not think for that reason that your diligence
will be ineffectual when the clergy at least understands that you will not
ignore such a serious violation of church discipline. You will derive great
benefit from that very thing because you will more often call to witness your
mind and that of the Church, which shrinks from the shadier collusions even of
these men. Given the opportunity, you will announce to them that the God who
scrutinizes the innermost recesses of man will not be mocked. Before His
supreme tribunal, those sometime-sophistries, which now deceive the bishop and
escape the legally-appointed penalties, will be of no avail. Besides, it will
not be impossible to recognize for the most part the hidden truth of the matter
and subdue the secret crime, if the character of the men involved, which
reveals itself in the total conduct of their lives, and the accompanying
circumstances, which render the proffered excuses more or less admissible, are
weighed with the appropriate skill and care. We could easily illustrate this
with examples, if We did not trust in the Lord concerning the wisdom of your
brotherhood and in your experience.
8. The other thing, which you should equally
beware of, is that you not allow to flourish among you
wrong interpretations of canon laws, which diminish the strength of those laws
and give excessive scope to indulgence. These interpretations arise from
private reflection, outside the mind and spirit of the Church and without the
agreement of a legitimate superior. They are adapted to any circumstances at
will. This problem may arise when the affairs of both the secular and regular
clergy are appealed to you for judgment. If there is any question concerning
the nature of the contract which clergymen customarily enter into in certain
dioceses, whether such a thing is permissible or should be forbidden, it will
hardly be fair to rule on the basis of either the frequency of those acts whose
nature is in question or the ideas of the contracting parties. But to remove
every doubt and to restrain the excesses and audacity of those who await a
decision, the most expeditious recourse is to this Apostolic See, which has
defined many similar questions through the Congregation of the Cardinals, the
interpreters of the Council of Trent. Thus, it will be possible in the future
to see what was decided in given cases, and what were the
suitable responses which can provide precedents for acting and judging.
9. A clear decision has been requested from Us
and the Holy See on the matter of whether it is permissible for clergymen to
change money. Even though we think that it is difficult to find another matter
less subject to doubt, We nevertheless declare and
define in this letter, so as to remove all doubt, that money changing is by its
very nature a true and proper act of business. Therefore, it should be
considered forbidden to all clergymen, both to contract in their own name or
through an intermediary. Any cleric, either secular or regular, who changes money will be considered liable to all the penalties and
censures which have been established for clergymen who engage in business.
10. A clergyman may try to excuse his
involvement in worldly business by pleading indigence. This plea is not valid
since the canonical title of ordination should at least be a sufficient and
adequate inheritance for each and every clergyman to sustain himself. If there
are needy clerics, each should look after his own needs through more proper
means which are in agreement with his vows. The indigence will rather be that
of his parents or sisters or some other person whom he is dutifully bound to
help. First of all, We decree that the ecclesiastical superior should never
allow such an excuse. We cannot permit that cleric not to be punished in
proportion to his guilt according to the prescriptions of canon law, unless he
shows that he has already expressed the aforementioned needs to the Apostolic
See, if he lives in
11. Next, as for what concerns the Curia in
this matter, We clarify our thoughts and desires. Such dispensations and
authorizations should never be granted unless the alleged causes of the situation
are based on fact and unless it is clear that the aforementioned needs cannot
be alleviated in any other way. In the same case, let it never be permitted for
churchmen to assume any kind of business dealings whose administration is not
befitting their clerical status and character. Rather, in those rescripts or letters of indult, let more suitable ways to
bring assistance to his poor relatives be indicated and prescribed for the
cleric, in accordance with just moderation and the measure of true need. The
Ordinaries to whom this pertains should similarly comply with everything in the
granting of such dispensations and authorizations. Either they or the Holy See
have sometimes permitted certain indults to certain clerics for special
reasons, with just causes accompanying. Perchance these indults have come into
wider use-for example hiring church-owned farmland for cultivation at a fixed
annual rate. See to it particularly that other clerics do not usurp these
things as if they were conceded generally to everybody without just cause and
without a special indult.
12. As for the rest, We resolve that those very
authorizations-even those obtained in the above - mentioned manner - should
always be considered harmful right up to the time they are revoked. Thus, they
should be considered null and void and revoked in their own right as soon as
the alleged needs of the relatives cease or another legitimate reason
opportunely provides for them. We desire to burden the vigilance and the
conscience of the local Ordinary with the execution and observance of all these
matters.
13. It is true that the current depression of
ecclesiastical dignity is not to be attributed solely to business dealings.
There are other abuses which do not clearly oppose the letter of the sacred
canons and constitutions published by the Holy See. Yet, clergymen decide to
use them and thereby cast aside ever more frequently and more certainly the
proper dignity of the cleric and the reputation of their whole order. They are
confident that they will not be subject to the censures and the penalties
established by those canons and constitutions. We know that many clergymen are
prominent in their unseemly activities: in the administration and care for
their own goods; in selling the fruits, animals, and other things which grow
and are fed on their own farms or those of the Church; and in preparing things
which they need for their own use or for setting in order the aforementioned
farms. Thus they show themselves completely given over to the cares and concerns
of this world, these clerics who covet worldly gain. Those who have risen above
the lot of the human condition through the eminence of Holy Orders in this way
lower themselves below men of the lowest status. Those who should be and appear
to be the sons of light seem to outdo the sons of this generation in their
concern for worldly greed. Our reports relate that they attend all the markets
and sales with almost the same splendor and elegance as laymen, and they find
anything preferable to the appearance of clerical moderation and modesty or of
the seriousness and honor of the Church.
14. We proclaim openly that We will not forbid
them anything which was judged permissible, in regard to the very nature of the
business, for the correct and prudent administration of the Church's patrimony
or which the holy fathers and the writers of Church laws entrusted to their
care. For there are many things which clerics are not forbidden in regard to
the substance of the matter, things which they are permitted to use under
certain limitations; but the holy canons will inflict both temporal punishments
and spiritual censures on those who go beyond the prescribed limitations or who
violate the established rule of ecclesiastical discipline. The general rules of
canon law and the individual statutes of the various dioceses contain many
examples of this, examples which prescribe many things to observe or avoid in
regard to the life, honesty, habit, or tonsure of the clerics. Thus, Venerable
Brothers, you should watch over the motives of all the clergymen living in your
dioceses in regard to the things We have just mentioned. If they approach you
frequently to allow something which might not be in conformity with their
clerical status, you should teach them through suitable instructions that they
should comtemplate the eminence of the dignity they
have chosen for themselves. They should not think that they are allowed to
debase it with indecent acts or to wipe away from the souls of the laity the
esteem and reverence due the ecclesiastical order, an esteem which greatly
benefits the m spiritual well-being of the faithful. Mindful that they were
called to share in the Lord's portion, they should seek for and be concerned
about the things which concern Jesus Christ and not themselves. In addition,
you know that it is necessary to meet such turpitude and greed on the part of
the clergy with suitable decrees strictly established, and you know that you
must restrain and punish the faults of the evildoers. Given the choice of a greater
or lesser scandal, first of all denounce the evil. Then correct it with
salutary penitence; finally, restrain and punish it with the unsheathed sword
of penalties and censures as an example for others.
15. Another kind of corruption infects many
clergymen and, We understand, draws them from church service to worldly
concerns. This demands as much or even more concern
and constancy from your pastoral zeal. There are some who give over in object
service to the laity all the labor and effort which they should expend in
divine worship and in aiding their neighbors according to the law of love.
Sometimes they even hire out their services to administer the business affairs
of laymen for vile, temporal pay. In this matter it is difficult to judge
whether the blindness of those who trample upon the dignity of their own order
is to be regretted more, or the presumption of the laity. This laity takes so
lightly the holy ministers from whom they should seek examples of Christian
life and aids to eternal salvation that they do not hesitate to use them in
servile ministries.
16. This certainly disturbs Us more, that an
evil of this kind should come from an abuse which is just as detestable.
Whenever someone rashly aspires to the clerical state, it sometimes happens that
he deceives his Ordinary with false or forged documents, and he is promoted to
holy orders by a false estate which either bears no fruit or which does not
belong to him, without sufficient revenue to maintain an upright living. For
this reason, none of you should be surprised, Venerable Brothers, if We take
this opportunity to strongly exhort and warn each and every one of you to be
more careful and more vigilant in this matter. Thus, no one subject to you
should be given an opportunity to steal up to holy ordination if he does not
receive a certain amount of annual income from an ecclesiastical benefice or
ecclesiastical pension or from an estate created for him, in cases permitted by
law. All fraud and collusion should be eliminated--if, that is, he does not
receive that amount of annual return which was decreed either in the statutes
of the diocesan synods or by legitimate custom.
17. Take care to recall to the precepts of
ecclesiastical life and to the duties of the clerical soldier those clergymen and
priests who devote themselves in the homes of the laity to these kinds of
services which do not befit their class and profession. These duties lead them
away from God's service from concern for their own spiritual progress to
worldly business dealings and servile occupations, even though they sometimes
strive to conceal their activities with the appearance of fine titles. Do not
allow them to soil themselves peacefully in their shame or to glory with
obstinate impunity in their defection from the camp of the Church. To these
ends use every zeal and as much pastoral concern as
necessary; use all the authority of ordinary and delegated jurisdiction, and
all the while observe those things which must be observed.
18. Venerable Brothers, these are the things We
wanted to suggest and strongly commend to your care, out of the duty of Our
apostolic ministry in order to protect and vindicate the honor and the dignity
of holy orders. In this matter, which greatly depends on individual
circumstances, it is necessary that you who are present in your respective
territories have the major roles. You are better able to recognize and more
certainly judge the deeds of those subject to you, the accompanying
circumstances, the needs of the regions, the customs
of the people, and whatever might appear decent or indecent among prudent and
upright men. In order that you might be free to correct and reform whatever
might be wrong in these matters, We rely on your prudent judgment to regulate
any indult of dispensation or authorization granted by any office of the Roman
Curia up to now concerning these matters. We do not want to grant anything
further until We have heard the reports of your brotherhood, as well as the
desires and the accompanying formula and conditions of the indult, by which you
have the entire authority to know about its execution and effect. Thus, no
clergyman should be allowed to conduct any business dealings under any pretext
or to assume a less upright ministry contrary to your prohibition or to retain
it and prolong it once it has been granted. Meanwhile, We take pleasure in your
pastoral zeal, and We lovingly grant to your brotherhood the apostolic
blessing.
Given in