GODPARENTS (in Baptism and Confirmation). - A godparent (patrinus, as it were parvus pater, or sponsor or receptor) is the one who must assist the one being baptized or confirmed during the relevant ceremonies and make on his behalf the solemn promises that the Church requires.
I. HISTORY AND GENERAL NOTIONS
The use of godparents (patrini) goes back to the first centuries of Christianity (Tertullian, De Baptismo, ch. 18) and was fixed in ecclesiastical legislation (c. 77, D. IV de cons.), later passing into the CIC. One may dispense with a godparent only for grave causes, for example, urgent necessity, except in the case of a Baptism renewed under condition, in which a godparent is not necessary, unless the same person who assumed this office in the previous ceremony discharges it (can. 763).
The godparent must be a single person; however, for Baptism two persons are permitted: a godfather and a godmother. For Confirmation the same sex as the confirmand is prescribed, except in case of necessity (can. 796), whereas in Baptism a difference of sex is permitted (can. 764). Whoever is called to the office of godparent must be present at the ceremony, at least through a proxy, and, at the moment of the administration of the Sacrament, is bound, for validity, to touch the confirmand physically, and, in Baptism, to support, touch the one being baptized or lift him from the sacred font or receive him from the hands of the baptizer (can. 765, 5°).
The office of godparent can be validly exercised only by a baptized person, and, in Confirmation, by a confirmed person who: a) has been chosen by the one being baptized or confirmed, or by his parents or guardians; in their absence, by the minister of the Sacrament or by the parish priest; b) has reached the use of reason and is animated by the intention of really discharging this office; c) is not enrolled in heretical or schismatic sects, nor excommunicated by sentence, nor struck by infamy of law, or excluded from legitimate ecclesiastical acts, nor a degraded or deposed cleric; e) is not the father, mother, or spouse of the one being baptized or confirmed (can. 765).
For the lawful exercise there is required: a) the age of 13 years completed; b) immunity from excommunication for a notorious offense, from the penalty of exclusion from legitimate ecclesiastical acts, from infamy of law (without sentence), from interdict and from infamy of fact.
He cannot exercise the office of godparent who is a public delinquent or is ignorant of the first elements of the Catholic faith. Clerics in sacred orders need the express permission of their own Ordinary, and religious or novices must obtain the express license of the local superior, who will grant it only in cases of true necessity (can. 766).
If Confirmation is not conferred immediately after Baptism, the godparent for Confirmation must be distinct from the godparent of Baptism, unless a reasonable motive suggests departing from the norm (can. 796, 1).
II. EFFECTS OF THE OFFICE OF GODPARENTS. OBLIGATIONS
From Baptism and Confirmation there arises a spiritual relationship which, after the Council of Trent (sess. XXIV, chap. 2 de ref.), extended to the baptizer, the baptized, the godparents and the parents of the baptized; to the confirmant, the confirmed, the godparents, and the parents of the confirmed. Today the spiritual bond arises only between the baptized and the baptizer; between the baptized and his godparents; between the confirmant and the confirmed; between the confirmed and the godparent. From this spiritual relationship there originates an impediment that dissolves Marriage (v. COGNATION); no spiritual bond arises instead in the case of Baptism repeated under condition, when the godparent of the second Baptism was distinct from that of the first. Godparents must consider the spiritual child as entrusted to their care; therefore they will attend to his Christian education, especially when he remains an orphan or is neglected by his parents (can. 769).
Bibliography6 works
Giovanni M. Pinna