This month marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most important innovations in recent Catholic history. But this centenary is unlikely to be marked with much enthusiasm in Rome, because it concerns a currently unfashionable topic: canon law.
On May 27, 1917, Benedict XV promulgated the Code of Canon Law, the first official comprehensive account of Church law. This was a revolutionary step because, until then, canon law had grown organically, with law added to law with little regard for overall harmony or structure.
Of course there had been efforts to stamp order on the Church’s legal system before. The most notable was that of Gratian, a 12th-century jurist who compiled a kind of canon law textbook. Various popes tried – and largely failed – to codify the law, until 1904, when Pope Pius X created a commission to combine the laws into a single volume. He took a forward-thinking approach to the problem, consulting the world’s bishops intensively throughout.
Pius X died before the commission completed its work of reducing some 10,000 norms to 2,414 crisply written canons. The Code of Canon Law followed Roman law’s structure of “norms, persons, things, procedures and penalties” and applied mainly to the Latin Church, rather than the 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches.
Many regarded the Code as a monumental achievement; others, as a disaster. “With this single act,” a traditionalist critic wrote, “the enormous, intricate tree of ecclesiastical jurisprudence that had been growing up over centuries, with Gratian at its roots, was cut down and replaced by a product of a single committee of a particular time and place.”
The Code’s opponents argued that it paved the way for endless top-down tinkering: popes would find it impossible to resist the urge to make sweeping changes. Arguably, events have proved them right. When Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council he promised a thorough revision of the Code. This appeared decades later, in 1983, during the pontificate of John Paul II. The Polish pope described the updated Code as “a great effort to translate … conciliar ecclesiology into canonical language”.
Why does this story matter? After all, Christianity is not reducible to law. Does Church law even have a place in the new era of mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis?
Historians regard canon law as the West’s oldest continuously functioning legal system. It has helped not only to shape our civilisation but also to ensure good governance and order within the Church. However imperfectly it has been practised, it has upheld the idea of justice when society has lost sight of it. The failure to follow canon law is, for example, often cited as one of the causes of the abuse crisis.
Canon lawyers are frequently dismissed as the Church’s equivalent of accountants: dull bean counters who, according to the sneerers, don’t exactly radiate the joy of the Gospel. But their unglamorous work does support the Church’s mission. For Christians are only credible if, while preaching mercy, they also zealously fight for justice. So let’s join our undervalued canonists in toasting this centenary.
The news that 82 of the girls kidnapped from the school at Chibok three years ago have been released is to be welcomed. However, there are some considerations that must mute any rejoicing.
First of all, northern Nigeria is no safer now than it has ever been. Boko Haram originally raided the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state, in April 2014, abducting 276 of the pupils. This is the second wave of releases, but at least 100 still remain in captivity. That Boko Haram is still able to hold prisoners and operate in northern Nigeria is a sign that it remains undefeated, and could easily strike again.
The girls in question have been away from their families for three years. One wonders what horrors they have seen, and what trauma they have experienced. One hopes and prays that a return to their families may be part of the healing process. But the fact remains that the reign of terror inflicted by Boko Haram continues to traumatise thousands in northern Nigeria, and we are still no nearer to extirpating the root cause: the existence of Boko Haram itself.
Finally, it is to be noted that the girls’ release was secured through negotiation. That is not of itself a bad thing. However, their release was bought by the exchange of several Boko Haram prisoners. This is regrettable, and may only encourage Boko Haram to abduct more innocent children in future.
What remains is the sad fact that the Nigerian state, though eager to claim this as a success, seems unable to pacify its northern territory. This failure to deliver good governance means that no one can be confident about the future for Nigeria or its people.
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