Suspension

SUSPENSION. - It is a strictly ecclesiastical penalty by which clerics are deprived of the exercise of certain rights inherent in their office or in their benefice or in both.

Unlike excommunication (v.) and the interdict (v.), suspension is by its nature reserved as a penalty to clerics alone, that is, to those who have validly received at least first tonsure (v.); simple faithful, all women religious and lay religious men are therefore excluded from it.

I. DIVISIONS

Suspension can be inflicted on clerics as a censure or as a vindictive penalty; it can be imposed by law or by personal precept; one can incur it immediately by the mere fact of violating the law or precept to which it is attached (latas sententiae), or the intervention of the one who de facto and legitimately applies it may be necessary (ferendae sententiae); it can be inflicted on a community or on individuals; for a determined time, or an undetermined time, or in perpetuity (and then it is a vindictive penalty), or until the subject, having repented of the offense that merited it, has been absolved of it (censure); it can be total or partial, both with respect to its quality (suspension from the power of order or from that of jurisdiction), and with respect to the quantity of one or the other power that is prohibited (e.g., from episcopal, or priestly, or diaconal functions, etc., all of which belong to the power of order). Of these latter canon 2279 § 2 speaks, recalling suspensions from office, from benefice, from both together, from jurisdiction, from sacred orders, from all orders, from pontificals, etc. All suspensions, moreover, are divided into reserved and non-reserved, according to whether all confessors without distinction (in the internal forum) and the superiors of the suspended person (in the external forum) can absolve from them, or only certain ones determined by law (v. BISERVA). Even the so-called suspension ex informata conscientia, although it can include any specification of the preceding divisions, can nevertheless be inflicted only according to the modalities established by the CIC in cases of occult offenses (that is, offenses which for one reason or another cannot be proven in the external forum), but which are certain; this form, however, can be used only by local Ordinaries or their vicars general. As for reserved suspensions, there are some reserved directly to the Holy See, or to the local Ordinary, or to other Ordinaries and superiors specifically provided for by law.

II. EFFECTS

The effects of the various kinds of suspension are set out in can. 2278 § 2, which warns that they may also be found separately in the various subjects. The general rule, however, is that when it is inflicted without express restrictions, it comprises all the effects of which cann. 2279-85 speak, that is, both the effects proper to suspension from office and those of suspension from benefice.

In accordance with what the CIC lays down, the specific effects of the individual suspensions are as follows: in suspension from office, every act of the power of order and of jurisdiction is forbidden, as well as the administration of the office, with only the administration of the goods of one's own benefice excluded (can. 2279 § 1); in suspension from jurisdiction, every act of jurisdiction is forbidden, whether of the internal or the external forum, whether ordinary or delegated (ibid., § 2, n. 1); in suspension a divinis, every act of the power of order however obtained, that is, both through sacred ordination (e.g., suspension from celebrating Mass) and through privilege (e.g., suspension from the faculty of conferring Confirmation inflicted on a priest who had obtained the apostolic privilege: ibid., n. 3); in suspension from orders, every act of the power of order received through ordination but not of those eventually received through privilege (ibid., n. 3); in suspension from sacred orders, every act of the power of order received through ordination in sacris (subdiaconate, diaconate, presbyterate, episcopate) but not of the others (ibid., n. 4); in suspension from the exercise of a determined order, every act of the order expressly designated (in this case, indeed, the subject not only cannot, although he has the power, confer that same order, but can neither receive the higher one nor exercise it, if received during the period of suspension: ibid., n. 5). Suspension from conferring a certain and determined order, on the other hand, entails only the prohibition of conferring it, without any limitation, however, with regard to orders of a lower or higher degree than that one (ibid., n. 6); suspension from the pontifical order forbids every act of the power of the episcopal order (ibid., n. 8). Suspension from the pontificals, on the other hand, prevents only the exercise of those acts that require the pontifical insignia (mitre and pastoral staff) but not the others, although proper to bishops (ibid., n. 9 and can. 337 § 2); finally there are partial suspensions from determined ministries or offices according to what is established case by case (can. 2279 § 2, n. 7).

With regard to the effects of suspension from benefice, what can. 2280 lays down must be borne in mind, namely that although the suspension deprives one of the fruits that derive from the benefice, it does not, however, take away the right to dwell in the house of the benefice nor that of administering the goods of the benefice itself, saving an express contrary imposition; the fruits eventually assigned contrary to the aforesaid rule do not become the property of the beneficiary and must be restored (ibid., § 2). Likewise, as regards the offices or benefices from which the subject is suspended, it is understood that the suspension is directed exclusively to those that the cleric holds in the diocese of the one who suspends him (can. 2281); unless it is a suspension inflicted by the CIC or in any case by norms of common law, in which case it operates by law everywhere (can. 2282). Suspension, however, from one or more orders binds the cleric everywhere, even outside the territory of the superior who inflicted it.

The suspended cleric, in accordance with can. 2265, cannot elect, present and nominate to ecclesiastical offices or benefices; he cannot obtain any dignity, office, benefice, ecclesiastical pensions or other charge in the Church; nor can he be promoted to Orders. Nevertheless, promotion to Orders is valid in every case, while the other penal effects, if the suspension was imposed by sentence, have invalidity attached (can. 2283). Likewise the cleric struck by a suspension that forbids the administration of the Sacraments and Sacramentals can, notwithstanding this, lawfully confer them if for any reasonable motive (which he is not bound to investigate) he is requested to do so by the faithful; this, however, does not hold in the case of a suspension incurred by a specific sentence, unless the requesting faithful are in danger of death: in this latter case, indeed, the suspended cleric can absolve from sins and also, in the absence of other ministers, administer the other Sacraments and Sacramentals (cann. 2284 and 2263). It must also be carefully remembered that a suspension inflicted by sentence of the competent superior and that entails the prohibition of exercising jurisdiction (whether in the internal or the external forum) renders the prohibited acts themselves invalid (thus, e.g., sacramental absolutions in confession); whereas before the sentence it renders them only illicit, saving what has been said about the cases of direct request by the faithful within and outside danger of death, but not invalid.

As regards the effects of a suspension inflicted on a community or college of clerics, it must be noted that in accordance with can. 2285 § 1 they affect either the clerics who committed the crime or the community as such or both cumulatively. The suspension that in these cases is given to individual clerics entails the effects already enumerated above according to the cases (can. 2285 § 2); that given to the community as such entails the prohibition of exercising all and each of the spiritual rights that belong to it as an entity or moral body (ibid. § 2); that eventually given to the clerics and to the community sums them all up (ibid. § 4).

Suspension is a penalty that does not forbid the reception of the Sacraments. This explains why clerics and priests eventually suspended, e.g., from the celebration of Mass, can, if they wish, receive holy Communion; nevertheless the necessity is evident in these cases that they have first confessed the crimes committed (can. 2250).

III. THE SUSPENSION OF THE CIC

The following suspensions are reserved to the Holy See, and since they are latae sententiae they are incurred immediately, by the mere fact of the violation of the canonical norm to which they are attached: 1) general suspension for consecrating bishops and for co-consecrating bishops (or priests) who have consecrated a priest as bishop without an apostolic mandate; likewise for the newly consecrated (can. 2370); 2) general suspension for clerics, though not if they are bishops, who have promoted to Orders or have allowed themselves to be promoted to them simoniacally, or who have thus administered and received other Sacraments (can. 2371); 3) suspension a divinis for those who have had themselves ordained by someone excommunicated or suspended or interdicted by sentence, or by a notorious apostate, heretic or schismatic (can. 2372); 4) suspension from conferring Orders for one year for one who has ordained another's subject without the dimissorial letters of the relevant Ordinary; for one who has ordained his own subject who has resided in another territory for as long a time as is presumably sufficient, in accordance with can. 993, n. 4 and 994, to contract an impediment, if the norms proper to these cases have not been observed; for one who has promoted to major Orders without the canonical title required by can. 974 § 1, n. 7; and finally for one who has ordained another's subject even with the permission of his superior, unless the circumstances of can. 966 obtain (can. 2373); 5) general suspension at the good pleasure of the Holy See for religious clerics ordained in sacris if their profession has been declared invalid on account of deceit in its making (can. 2387); 6) general suspension for religious clerics if they have been legitimately dismissed from the religious order for offenses that do not entail infamy of law, deposition or degradation, and in any case for offenses lesser than those contemplated in can. 646 (apostasy from the Catholic faith, attempt at civil marriage, flight with a woman or respectively with a man; can. 671, n. 1); 7) partial suspension against Chapters and other communities in accordance with can. 2394. Reserved to the local Ordinary is the suspension from office, which is incurred by a cleric who has summoned before a lay judge a person who enjoys the privilege of the forum, though of a rank lower than cardinals, Legates of the Holy See, the major Officials of the Roman Curia for their own offices, one's own Ordinary, a bishop, an abbot or prelate nullus, and the supreme superiors of religious orders of pontifical right (can. 2341). Reserved to the major Superior is the general suspension incurred by a religious ordained in sacris who has fled from the religious order (can. 2386).

The non-reserved suspensions contemplated in the CIC are the following: 1) suspension for one month from the celebration of Mass for religious superiors who have sent their own subjects to be ordained by a bishop other than their own (can. 2410); this suspension, which is in the form of a vindictive penalty, must be observed for the whole month unless a recourse is favorably accepted by the Holy See; 2) suspension a divinis for a priest who without jurisdiction has heard sacramental confessions (can. 2366); 3) suspension from confessions for one who has absolved from reserved sins without the requisite power (can. 2366); 4) suspension from the Order received without testimonial letters or with false ones, or before having completed the canonical age, or by skipping preceding orders (can. 2374); 5) suspension a divinis for a cleric who has resigned and handed over into the hands of secular persons the office, benefice or ecclesiastical dignity with which he is invested (can. 2400); 6) suspension from jurisdiction for an abbot and prelate nullus who does not receive within three months of his appointment the blessing (in the cases in which this is required) from a bishop (can. 2402); 7) suspension a divinis for a vicar capitular who contrary to the canonical prescriptions of can. 958 § 1 n. 3 gave dimissorial letters for ordinations (can. 2409).

IV. CESSATION OF SUSPENSION

A s. inflicted in the form of a censure ceases only with the absolution given by the competent authority after the suspended person has repented of the offense for which it was incurred (can. 2248 § 1); absolution from a s. in the form of a censure cannot be denied to one who, having repented, requests it, although he may instead be punished with a s. that has the force of a vindictive penalty (can. 2248 § 2); once a s. in the form of a censure has been absolved, it does not revive unless what was prescribed by the superior under the explicit threat of falling back into it is not observed (can. 2248 § 3). Absolution from a s. incurred as a censure can be given in the external forum (and then it is valid also for the internal forum), or for the internal forum alone, whether sacramental or extrasacramental (can. 2251). However, one who is struck by several s. can be absolved from one or more of them without necessarily having to be absolved from all of them (can. 2249 § 1). A s. inflicted as a vindictive penalty ceases with its expiation, that is, once the time for which it was inflicted has ended, or, if it was inflicted indefinitely or in perpetuity, by dispensation of the competent ecclesiastical authority (cans. 2236 §§ 1-2 and 2289).

It must be carefully noted that one who, suspended from the exercise of a sacred Order (from the subdiaconate upward), whether by a s. inflicted by way of censure or by a s. inflicted as a vindictive penalty, nonetheless exercises its power, even for a single time, becomes without further ado irregular by reason of the offense, with all the consequences (can. 985 no. 7).

Lorenzo Simeone