Canon 1324 is a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of the 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' that enumerates situations according to which penalties prescribed in

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

must be diminished or replaced by a

penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. The word ''penance'' derive ...

. The canon does not automatically remove the penalty completely except in cases of '' latae sententiae'' (automatic)

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

Cases to which the canon applies

The diminution or replacement of the penalty must be applied if the offence was committed by: # Someone with imperfect use of reason # Someone temporarily lacking the use of reason because of drunkenness or some similar mental disturbance # Someone who, while not altogether losing the use of reason, acts in the heat of passion, without having deliberately provoked that passion # Someone not yet sixteen years old # Someone who acts out of grave fear, necessity or serious inconvenience when the act is intrinsically evil or tends to harm souls (if the act committed in these circumstances is not intrinsically evil or harmful to souls, then there is no penalty) # Someone who acts in lawful self-defence but without due moderation (if due moderation was used, then there is no penalty) # Someone who reacts against grave and unjust provocation by another # Someone who erroneously but culpably thought the circumstances mentioned in parentheses above under numbers 5 and 6 existed, circumstances that according to canon 1323 exempt from all penalty # Someone who was inculpably unaware that a penalty was attached to the law or precept against which he offended # Someone who acted with grave but not full imputability In the circumstances listed above '' latae sententiae'' (automatic) excommunications do not apply. A judge may diminish or replace a prescribed penalty also in view of other circumstances that reduce the gravity of the offence.

Claimed applications

Excommunication of Marcel Lefebvre

The SSPX argues that

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dakar, Archbishop of Dakar from 1955 to 1962. He was a major inf ...

's ordination of four bishops on 30 June 1988 (the Ecône consecrations) in contravention of a direct order from

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, was due to a state of necessity, citing in his defense canons 1323 and 1324 of the 1983 ''Code of Canon Law''.

Abortion on a minor in Brazil

In March 2009, after an abortion on a nine-year-old girl raped by her stepfather and pregnant with twins had been performed to save her life, Archbishop

José Cardoso Sobrinho José Cardoso Sobrinho (born 30 June 1933, in Caruaru) is the Archbishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. He joined the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1957 and was app ...

of Olinda and Recife stated that '' latae sententiae''

had been incurred by the girl's mother and the medical team. The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil disowned his statement, saying that, in accordance with

, the mother was certainly not excommunicated, since she had acted "out of grave fear" (''cf''. no. 5 of this canon) and there was insufficient evidence to show that any member of the medical team was acting with the full awareness and contumacy envisaged in this canon (''cf''. nos. 8 and 9). Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco of Gap, France also denied the applicability to the girl's mother of canon 1398 of the 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'', which imposes

automatic Automatic may refer to: Music Bands * Automatic (Australian band), Australian rock band * Automatic (American band), American rock band * The Automatic, a Welsh alternative rock band Albums * ''Automatic'' (Jack Bruce album), a 1983 el ...

for procuring a completed abortion, pointing out that canon 1324 states that automatic censures, such as that which applies for such abortions, do not affect those who act out of grave fear.

References

{{reflist, 30em Catholic penal canon law Canons (canon law)