RELIGION (IN CANON LAW). -
I. NOTION
For canon law, religion (r.) means a society approved by the legitimate ecclesiastical authority, in which the members, according to the constitutions and rules of the society itself, make public vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience with the general aim of striving for evangelical perfection, and the specific aim of carrying out a particular work of apostolate.Religion is a society, and thus a union of men who pursue a common end by common means under an authority duly elected among themselves. It is, however, a supernatural society, inasmuch as its proper end is the personal sanctification of its members in the perfection of the Christian life. The supernatural character does not exclude juridical status, which is conferred upon it by the public recognition of the Church through an official act of the competent organs of the Holy See. These organs are: for individual dioceses, the local Ordinaries, with the prior authorization of the Sacred Congregation of Religious for all territories under ordinary jurisdiction, and of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith for mission territories, by special faculties obtained from Pope Pius XI.