DENUNCIATION. — In legal language, this term refers to various acts, which generally consist in reporting a fact to an authority.
When used without further qualification (in which case reference is also made to a penal denunciation), it denotes the act by which a crime is brought to the attention of the authority.
According to the Code of Canon Law (CIC), as indeed under the laws of States, anyone has the right to denounce a crime (even a religious may present a denunciation against a superior: can. 1652, n. 3), regardless of the motive that prompts the denunciation. Can. 1935 § 1 specifies the lawful purposes: namely, to obtain due satisfaction or compensation for damages, or out of a spirit of justice so that some scandal or other evil may be repaired. The denunciation must be made to the Ordinary or to the chancellor of the diocesan curia, or to the vicar forane, or to the parish priest, who, however, must transmit it to the Ordinary (can. 1936).
Denunciations made by someone who is manifestly an enemy of the person denounced, or by someone who is absolutely unworthy, are not taken into account; nor are anonymous denunciations that do not contain sufficient elements to render the accusation probable (can. 1942 § 2).
There are also cases in which there is an obligation to denounce a crime: this occurs in canon law when a juridical norm or a particular precept imposes it (as, for example, when a cleric or religious is enrolled in Freemasonry or another similar sect [V. MASSONERIA], or when a confessor is guilty of solicitation [v.]: cann. 2336 § 2, 904, 2368 § 2), and furthermore whenever the denunciation is necessary to prevent some danger to the faith or to religion, or another imminent public harm (can. 1935 § 2; for Italian law, cf. arts. 361-65 of the penal code).
The person who makes the denunciation must also provide all the elements of proof of which he is aware (can. 1937); and, once the denunciation is presented, unless it appears manifestly unfounded, investigations are initiated to determine whether there are sufficient elements to commence a penal process (can. 1939 § 1, 1942 § 1, 1946 § 2). It must nonetheless be borne in mind that, as a rule, a denunciation is not necessary for these investigations to begin or for the punishment of the guilty party in the case of a delict: only when the delict to be punished is injury or defamation (v. DIFFAMAZIONE), in certain cases no proceedings are taken unless the injured or defamed person presents the denunciation, which in such a case is more properly termed a complaint.
Identical norms (with only slight differences in form) to those established in the CIC for the Latin Church have been issued for the Eastern Churches with the motu proprio Sollicitudinem nostram of 6 Feb. 1950, in force from 6 Feb. 1951 (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 1-120): cf. cann. 508-11, 516, 520 of the motu proprio.
If the denunciation is calumnious, its author may be punished, if in bad faith, as a calumniator or defamer (v. DIFFAMAZIONE); and, for very grave cases, penalties are foreseen if, through the denunciation, a priest has been falsely accused of solicitation.
The term denunciation is also used in the sense of notification (v.) of an act, whether judicial or otherwise; in the sense of reporting to ecclesiastical authority books deemed worthy of prohibition (v. CENSURA DEI LIBRI; INDICE DEI LIBRI PROIBITI); and in the sense of publication (v.) for marriage or ordination.