NON-CATHOLIC. - By "a.," according to the etymology (privative a and καθόλιλος), is meant anyone who is not a Catholic; therefore: 1) in the broad sense, not only baptized non-Catholics, but also all those who are more properly called "infidels" (v); 2) in the strict sense, all those who, although they have received baptism and call themselves Christians on that account, nevertheless do not profess the Catholic faith or are separated from it (heretics, schismatics, apostates; cf. CIC, can. 1325).
The fundamental principles of Canon Law regarding baptized a. are the following: 1) they are bound of themselves to observe the canonical laws of the Church that concern the common good (for example, the laws concerning matrimonial impediments), because whoever is baptized is a person of the Church (can. 87), and if he can be deprived of certain rights through heresy or schism or as a penalty, he is not thereby freed from the duties that weigh upon Christians. 2) Per accidens, however, they are excused from the observance of certain canonical laws, insofar as they are either positively exempted from them (for example, from the Catholic form of marriage, excluding the children of a. baptized in the Catholic Church: CIC, c. 1099, § 2, and the modification introduced by AAS, 40 [1948] p. 305), or are excluded from the faculty of performing certain acts (for example, receiving the sacraments, without first abjuring their errors and being reconciled with the Church). When, moreover, it is a question of the precepts of the Church that concern personal sanctification, such as those of abstinence, fasting, assisting at Mass on the prescribed days, etc., one may practically hold as probable the opinion that baptized a. are exempt from them (A. Vermeersch-J. Creusen, Epit. Jur. Can., I, 6th ed., Rome 1937, n. 106; G. Frassinetti, Compendio della Teal. mor., 11th ed., Turin 1938, note 7 to n. 30), although others (for example, F. Cappello, Summa Iur. publ. Eccl., 4th ed., Rome 1943, n. 280) deny it.
Finally, can. 1350 prescribes that the care of baptized a. who are found within diocesan or parochial territories belongs to the ordinaries and parish priests; while for those who reside in territories not yet divided into dioceses and parishes, all care belongs to the Apostolic See. (see also APOSTASIA; CULTI AMMESSI; DISPARITÀ DI CULTO; ERESIA; INFEDELI; MATRIMONIO; MISSIONI; RELIGIONE MISTA; SCISMA).
For the relations between Catholics and a., v. COMUNICAZIONE NELLE COSE SACRE.