INTRUSION. — Strictly speaking, intrusion occurs when the provision of a benefice is carried out, at least at the moment of collation, not by the ecclesiastical authority competent by law, but either by the intruder himself who substitutes himself for that authority, or by the lay power, or by the relatives or supporters of the subject to be invested.
It is customary to distinguish another kind of intrusion, which takes place when the provision is invalid not for reasons of incompetence, but for other reasons (censure, simoniacal contamination, etc.).
Finally, there is intrusion in a broad sense when the provision is merely illicit either because of the incapacity of the passive subject or because of the lack of some requirement that makes the provision rescindable.
The intruder, in the proper sense, is he who seizes the ecclesiastical benefice without canonical provision (can. 1437). "Intrusus," thus in the sources, "dicitur qui praeter auctoritatem superioris ad quem pertinet collatio beneficium est ingressus." Against the intruder, the Church has waged the hardest struggles to free itself from the interference of princes who, at certain moments in history, claimed not only to impose their candidates but also to confer canonries and bishoprics independently of the Holy See (v. INVESTITURE, Struggle of); and the Council of Trent sanctions: "Si quis dixerit... eos qui nec ab ecclesiastica et canonica potestate rite ordinati nec missi sunt, sed aliunde veniunt, legitimos esse Verbi et Sacramentorum ministros, anathema sit" (sess. 25, can. 7; Denz-U, 967).
In current law, intrusion, according to the diversity of cases, results in the nullity, invalidity, or merely the illicitness of the provision, and the intruder is punished with penalties ranging from suspension, deprivation of the benefice, offices, dignities, to ineligibility and, if the case so requires, even deposition; with these penalties, the intruder will be compelled to withdraw immediately, upon warning, from the occupation, governance, or administration usurped. Moreover, the Chapters and all others who admit the elected, presented, or nominated persons before the exhibition of the necessary letters of confirmation or institution remain suspended from their rights, at the discretion of the Apostolic See (can. 2394, §3).