EXAMINER. - Among the various consultative bodies established by canon law in every episcopal curia for the purpose of assisting the Ordinary in the exercise of his functions, the foremost is that of the synodal examiners, a college of ecclesiastics elected, on the bishop's proposal, in the diocesan synod. Those who may be appointed by the bishop outside a synod are called pro-synodal examiners.
Their chief task is to examine and judge the suitability of candidates for the provision of parochial benefices, with or without competition, and to assist the Ordinary, in the capacity of assessors, in the administrative proceedings for the removal or transfer of parish priests and for the application of the disciplinary measures provided in the CIC against clerics who have failed, in certain cases, in their priestly duties (cann. 2147-85). The bishop may moreover avail himself of their work, though he is not obliged to do so, in the examinations for holy orders and for licenses to preach and to hear confessions, and in the annual examinations prescribed for newly ordained priests in the years following ordination (can. 389 §§ 1, 2, can. 150).
They must be elected in every diocese in the diocesan synod, through the bishop's proposal and the assembly's approval, in a number that may vary, at the Ordinary's discretion, from a minimum of four to a maximum of twelve (can. 385). Should the synod not be held within the prescribed time, or should some position become vacant in any case before the expiry of the terms, the bishop himself directly makes the new appointments or the relative substitutions, after hearing the opinion of the cathedral Chapter (can. 386). They hold office for ten years, but they cease if the new synod is convoked before the end of the decade. In the case of extra-synodal substitutions, the duration in office is limited to the time envisaged for the one who has been replaced. They are in any case always eligible for re-election (can. 387). The bishop cannot remove them from office except for grave cause, after the opinion of the cathedral Chapter (can. 388).
The office of synodal examiner is not incompatible with the closely related office of parish priest consultor. The same person, however, who should be found invested with both offices, cannot exercise them cumulatively in the same case (can. 390).
Historically the synodal examiners trace their origin to the Council of Trent, which prescribed their institution in every diocesan curia after having made the examination for competitions for parochial benefices obligatory (sess. XXIV, cap. 18 de ref.). The decree Maxima cura, 20 Aug. 1910, of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory, which introduced in this regard the modern law currently received in the CIC, extended their intervention also to the administrative processes for the removal of parish priests.