Vatican City, Jan 25, 2008 / 08:52 am
Around noon today, Pope Benedict spoke to the participants of a conference being held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law, telling them that they must show people that the Church’s law “makes us free to follow Jesus.”
“The 'ius ecclesiae' (law of the Church)”, the Pope said, is not just a collection of norms produced by the ecclesial Legislator for the people who form the Church of Christ. Rather, the law is “founded on the Sacraments and which, consequently, derive from what Christ Himself instituted".
The Pope quoted a phrase used by Blessed Antonio Rosmini to the effect that "the human person is the essence of law". This, he went on, is something "we must also emphasize for Canon Law: the essence of Canon Law is the Christian individual in the Church".
"Moreover", he added, Canon Law "must be clearly and unambiguously formulated in such a way as to remain in harmony with the other laws of the Church. Hence it is necessary to abrogate norms that have become outdated, modify those in need of correction, interpret (in the light of the living Magisterium of the Church) those that are unclear and, finally, fill any 'lacunae legis' (gaps in the law)".