GODPARENTS (in Baptism and Confirmation). — A G. (patrinus, quasi parvus pater, or sponsor or receptor) is the person who must assist the person being baptized or confirmed during the relevant ceremonies and make on his behalf the solemn promises required by the Church.
I. HISTORY AND GENERAL NOTIONS
The use of sponsors dates back to the first centuries of Christianity (Tertullian, De Baptismo, chap. 18) and was established in ecclesiastical legislation (c. 77, D. IV de cons.), subsequently passing into the CIC. A sponsor may be dispensed with only for serious reasons, e.g., urgent necessity, except in the case of Baptism repeated conditionally, in which a sponsor is not necessary unless the same person who undertook this office at the previous ceremony performs it (can. 763).The sponsor must be a single person; nevertheless, for Baptism two persons are permitted: a godfather and a godmother. For Confirmation, the same sex as that of the person being confirmed is prescribed, except in case of necessity (can. 796), whereas in Baptism diversity of sex is permitted (can. 764). Whoever is called to the office of sponsor must be present at the ceremony, at least through a proxy, and, at the administration of the Sacrament, is required, for validity, physically to touch the person being confirmed, and, in Baptism, to support and touch the person being baptized, or lift him from the sacred font, or receive him from the hands of the baptizer (can. 765, 5°).
The office of sponsor may validly be exercised only by a baptized person and, in Confirmation, by one who has been confirmed, who: a) has been chosen by the person 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 attained the use of reason and is animated by the intention of genuinely discharging this office; c) is not enrolled in heretical or schismatic sects, excommunicated by sentence, affected by infamia iuris, or excluded from legitimate ecclesiastical acts, nor a degraded or deposed cleric; e) is not the father, mother, or spouse of the person being baptized or confirmed (can. 765).
For the lawful exercise of the office, the following are required: a) completion of the age of thirteen; b) freedom from excommunication for a notorious offense, from the penalty of exclusion from legitimate ecclesiastical acts, from infamia iuris (without sentence), from interdict, and from de facto infamy.
A public offender or one ignorant of the first elements of the Catholic faith may not exercise the office of sponsor. Clerics in sacred orders require the express permission of their own Ordinary, while religious and novices must obtain the express authorization of the local superior, who will grant it only in cases of genuine necessity (can. 766).
If Confirmation is not conferred immediately after Baptism, the sponsor for Confirmation must be distinct from the sponsor for Baptism, unless a reasonable motive suggests departing from the rule (can. 796, 1).
II. EFFECTS OF THE OFFICE OF THE SPONSOR. OBLIGATIONS. — Baptism and Confirmation give rise to a spiritual relationship which, after the Council of Trent (sess. XXIV, cap. 2 de ref.), extended to the baptizing minister, the baptized person, the sponsors, and the parents of the baptized; to the minister conferring Confirmation, the person confirmed, the sponsors, and the parents of the person confirmed. Today the spiritual bond arises only between the baptized person and the baptizing minister; between the baptized person and his sponsors; between the minister conferring Confirmation and the person confirmed; and between the person confirmed and his sponsor. This spiritual relationship gives rise to an impediment that invalidates Marriage (v. COGNAZIONE); no spiritual bond, however, arises in the case of Baptism repeated conditionally, when the sponsor of the second Baptism was different from that of the first. Sponsors must regard their spiritual child as entrusted to their care; they must therefore attend to his Christian education, especially when he is orphaned or neglected by his parents (can. 769).