MISSIONE CANONICA (missio canonica). — It is the faculty granted to the lesser ministers of the hierarchy for preaching and for the exercise of the Catholic teaching office. It is sometimes called approval and also entails, as in the case of religious, the license to teach religion in any school (cf. C.I.C., can. 1381 § 3).
From the words of Jesus reported in Io. 17, 18; 20, 21 and from those of St. Paul in II Cor. 5, 20 derives the whole ancient ecclesiastical legislation concerning canonical m., which later became more rigorous and specific: with regard to preaching, because of the excesses of the followers of Wicleff, condemned at the Council of Constance (Denz-U, 687-88); and with regard to the teaching office, when, under the influence of Protestantism, teachers who were little or not at all orthodox began frequently to ascend the chair of public ecclesiastical instruction, thus initiating the doctrinal and practical movement toward the secularization of schools and universities.
To safeguard the received deposit of divine Revelation, the Church always intervened to defend, with vigilant constancy, the necessity of canonical m. not only for its own schools and universities, but also for those established by the State and by other temporal societies, whenever instruction concerned matters of faith and morals. The necessity of this mission is set forth as follows, specifically with regard to sacred preaching, in can. 1328 of the CIC: «No one is permitted to exercise the ministry of preaching without having obtained the mission from the legitimate superior, either through the granting of a special faculty or through the conferral of an office to which the sacred canons attach the duty of preaching.» With regard to teaching, the applicable provision is contained in can. 1381, where the Church’s right of supervision over all schools is affirmed with regard to the religious education of the young; hence the right and duty of the competent Ordinaries to ensure that nothing is said, expressed, or interpreted contrary to the faith or good morals, even to the point of requiring the removal of books and teachers who might offend the orthodoxy of Catholic doctrine. The Church has sought, insofar as possible, to safeguard this right of hers also in Concordats (cf., for example, that with Italy, art. 36).
Canonical m., being a delegation or authorization, with the exception of the Roman pontiff, who receives it directly from Jesus Christ upon prior acceptance (cf. CIC, can. 219), and of cardinals, who positively possess by can. 239 § 1 n. 3 the right to preach verbum Dei ubique, can be obtained only from one’s own legitimate superior and can be conferred only upon a suitable person.
It is clear that such delegation may always be withdrawn or suspended if the delegate acts improperly in the sacred ministry or propounds errors in Catholic teaching; the person removed retaining the right to appeal in accordance with the provisions of can. 1340 § 3.