the Third Week of Advent
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Power, Abuse of
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
Is taken in canon law in the very wide sense of the evil and unlawful use of ecclesiastical power or office and the term is not restricted to tyrannical use. The Code devotes to it an entire title (XIX) of the Fifth Book. The first canon of the title states: "Abuse of ecclesiastical power shall, at the prudent judgment of the legitimate superior, be punished according to the gravity of the fault, the prescriptions of the canons which enact a certain punishment for the same abuses being observed." The remaining canons give the special sanctions decreed against abuses which take place in the general government of dioceses and of religious communities. Scattered through the Code provisions are to be found against other abuses, such as those committed in the administration of the sacraments, in the bestowing of benefices, etc.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Entry for 'Power, Abuse of'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​ncd/​p/power-abuse-of.html. 1910.