DENUNCIA. — In legal language, this term denotes various acts, which generally consist in reporting some fact to an authority.
Used without further qualification (in which case one also speaks of d. penale), it denotes the act by which a crime is brought to the attention of the authorities.
Under the CIC, as under the laws of States, anyone has the right to report a crime (even a religious may bring a complaint against his superior: can. 1652, n. 3), whatever purpose may motivate him in making the d.; can. 1935 § 1 indicates the legitimate purposes, namely, to obtain due satisfaction or compensation for the damage, or out of a spirit of justice, so that some scandal or other harm may be remedied. The d. must be made to the Ordinary or to the chancellor of the diocesan curia, or to the forane vicar, or to the parish priest, who must in any event forward it to the Ordinary (can. 1936).
No account is taken of d. made by one who is manifestly hostile to the person denounced, or by one who is absolutely unworthy; the same applies to anonymous d. that do not contain sufficient elements to make the accusation appear probable (can. 1942 § 2).
There are also cases in which there is an obligation to report a crime: in canon law, this applies when a legal norm or a particular precept imposes it (thus, for example, when a cleric or religious is enrolled in Freemasonry or another similar sect [V. MASSONERIA], and when a confessor is guilty of solicitation [v.]: cann. 2336 § 2, 904, 2368 § 2), and also whenever the d. is necessary to prevent some danger to the faith or to religion, or some other imminent public harm (can. 1935 § 2; for Italian law, cf. arts. 361–65 of the penal code).
The person making the report must also provide all the evidence of which he has knowledge (can. 1937); and, once the d. has been submitted, unless it appears manifestly unfounded, investigations are begun to determine whether or not there are sufficient grounds for initiating criminal proceedings (cann. 1939 § 1, 1942 § 1, 1946 § 2). It must nevertheless be borne in mind that, as a rule, the d. is not necessary in order for these investigations to be begun and for the punishment of the perpetrator of an offense to be pursued: only when the offense to be punished is insult or defamation (v. DIFFAMAZIONE) is it in certain cases not pursued unless the insulted or defamed person submits the d., which in that case complaint (v.).
Norms identical (apart from some slight differences of form) to those established in the CIC for the Latin Church were promulgated for the Eastern Churches by 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 d. is calumnious, its author may, if acting in bad faith, be punished as a calumniator or defamer (v. DIFFAMAZIONE); and extremely severe penalties are provided where a priest has been falsely accused of solicitation by means of the denunciation.
The term d. is also used in the sense of notification (v.) of an act, whether judicial or otherwise; in the sense of reporting to the ecclesiastical authority books deemed deserving of prohibition (v. CENSURA DEI LIBRI; INDICE DEI LIBRI PROIBITI); and in the sense of publication (v.) for marriage or ordination.