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InCatholiccanon law, aninterdict (/ˈɪntərdɪkt/) is anecclesiasticalcensure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particularrites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for a limited or extended time.
An interdict is a censure, or prohibition, excluding the faithful from participation in certain holy things, such as theLiturgy, thesacraments (excepting private administrations of those that are of necessity), and ecclesiastical burial, including all funeral services.[1]
The prohibition varies in degree, according to the different kinds of interdicts. Interdicts are either local or personal. The former affect territories or sacred buildings; the latter directly affect persons. A general local interdict is one affecting a whole territory, district, town, etc., and this was the ordinary interdict of the Middle Ages; a particular local interdict is one affecting, for example, a particular church. A general personal interdict is one falling on a given body or group of people as a class, e.g. on a chapter, the clergy or people of a town, or a community; a particular personal interdict is one affecting certain individuals as such, for instance, a given bishop, a given cleric.[1]
Interdict differs fromexcommunication, in that it does not cut one off from the communion of the faithful. It differs from suspension also in that the latter affects the faculties of clerics, while the interdict affects the access of the faithful to religious rites. While the clergy cannot exercise their functions towards those under interdict, or in interdicted places or buildings, their powers are not directly affected, as happens in case of suspension.[1]
Only theHoly See was empowered to impose a general interdict on adiocese or State or a personal interdict on the people of a diocese or country, but bishops too could impose a general interdict on aparish or on the people of a parish or a particular interdict on a place (such as a church ororatory, analtar or acemetery) or a person.[2]
A local interdict forbade general public celebration of sacred rites. Exceptions were madefor the dying, and local interdicts were almost entirely suspended on five feasts of the year:Christmas Day,Easter Sunday,Pentecost,Corpus Christi and theAssumption of Mary.[1]
Those who were under personal interdict were forbidden to be at any religious rite except preaching of the word of God. While mere attendance by them did not require that they be expelled, those well known to be under interdict were to be prevented from taking any active part.[3]
An interdict today has the effect of forbidding the person concerned to celebrate or receive any of thesacraments, including theEucharist, or to celebrate thesacramentals. One who is under interdict is also forbidden to take any ministerial part (e.g., as areader if alayperson or as adeacon or priest if a clergyman) in the celebration of theEucharist or of any other ceremony of public worship.[4]
These are the only effects for those who have incurred alatae sententiae interdict, namely, one incurred automatically at the moment of committing the offence for which canon law imposes that penalty. For instance, a priest may not deny Holy Communion publicly to those who are under merely automatic interdict, even if he knows they have incurred this kind of penalty[5] – unless the reason for the interdict is known publicly and is persistent, in which case (though not technically due to the interdict) the concerned people are to be denied Holy Communion by force of can. 915.
However, in the case of aferendae sententiae interdict, one incurred only when imposed by a legitimate superior or by sentence of anecclesiastical court,[6] those affected are barred from Holy Communion[7] (seecanon 915), and if they violate the prohibition against taking a ministerial part in celebrating the Eucharist or some other ceremony of public worship, they are to be expelled or the sacred rite suspended, unless there is a grave reason to the contrary.[4] In the same circumstances, localordinaries andparish priests lose their right to assist validly at marriages.[8]
An automatic (latae sententiae) interdict is incurred by anyone using physical violence against abishop,[9] a person who, not being anordained priest, attempts to celebrate Mass, or who, though unable to give valid sacramentalabsolution, attempts to do so, or hears a sacramentalConfession.[10]Automatic interdict is also incurred by anyone falsely accusing apriest of soliciting sexual favours in connection withConfession[11] or attempting to marry while having a perpetualvow ofchastity.[12]
An interdict is also the censure that canon law says should be imposed on someone who, because of some act of ecclesiastical authority or ministry, publicly incites to hatred against theHoly See or theOrdinary, or who promotes or takes up office in an association that plots against the Church,[13] or who commits the crime ofsimony.[14]
BishopRené Henry Gracida ofCorpus Christi, Texas, interdicted a Roman Catholic politician in the late 20th century for supporting legal abortion; the unnamed individual died under interdict.[25]
In June 2008,Raymond Leo Burke, in his capacity as theArchbishop of St. Louis, applied an interdict to aSister of Charity, Louise Lears, judging her guilty of three grave canonical offenses against the Catholic Church's faith and teachings. Lears, a pastoral worker and educator, had publicly stated her belief that all of the church's ministries, including the priesthood, should be open to women. Lears received the interdict after attending an ordination ceremony, which the church does not recognize, of a woman to the priesthood at a Jewish synagogue by the WomenPriests movement.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Interdict".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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