Mercy in the Canon Law of Eastern Catholic Churches

Abstract

The subject of mercy in the canonical discipline of Eastern Catholic Churches is contained in the canons in which the legislator directly or indirectly recalls such theological category as well as the way of how it is to be applied to various canonical legal instruments. Among those instruments, dispensation and economy specifically dictate a moderate use of the law to obtain the highest purpose of church law, that is, to assist in one’s salvation.

The article recalls the biblical-theological rationale for the existing laws in force, that serve as the foundation ratio legis for these two legal instruments, with a particular focus on the doctrine formulated by Saint Leo the Great and Saint Thomas Aquinas.

A very significant subject in the ecumenical dialogue with the oriental Christians is the principle of economy (oikonomia), applied widely among others, especially by the Eastern Churches. An actual debate over formal inclusion of this principle into the Catholic canon law had been a subject of a papal commission that performed the work on the Code of Canon Law of Eastern Churches. In the end, however it has never been defined and promulgated into the body of the law due to the fact it has been concluded that it is already applied when such legal instruments like dispensations are utilized.