DISSIMULAZIONE. – In canon law, this signifies the attitude of a superior who, although aware of a violation of the law, pretends not to know of II. It is an essentially negative act. Whereas in toleration the superior expresses his disapproval and externally makes it understood—or sometimes directly manifests it by decree—that the will is « quod tolerari poterit », in d. he prefers to ignore the matter and to be recognized as doing so. Hence the distinctions: d. rather determines a provisional attitude on the part of the superior, imposed by circumstances that cannot be changed or are difficult to remove, but nevertheless having juridical consequences, in the sense that it does not permit proceedings against the transgressor in foro externo, either ex officio or at the instance of a party; d. does not remove the obligation and, in the legislation currently in force, does not entail dispensation, as some held in the time of Lucius III and Innocent III, especially with regard to matrimonial impediments, according to the formula « dispensando dissimulat et dissimulando dispensat ».
Toleration, on the other hand, does not merely indicate an attitude of the superior, but can sometimes indicate a stable juridical condition, with the permissive faculty to act against the law and with the obligation on others not to prevent this, within the terms of the concession (cf. can. 5 of the CIC, concerning toleration with regard to custom).
Both d. and toleration are negative acts to which the authority is almost compelled for the sake of a higher purpose.
In moral theology, the term d. is sometimes used to indicate improperly so-called simulation (v. SIMULAZIONE).