Confirmation During the Period of Post-Conciliar Renewal. Historical and Legal Outline

Abstract

The newly elected Pope, John XXIII, most certainly had a conviction that the Church has new goals to pursue in the time of profound changes in the world if he revealed his intention to call a general council and overhaul the Code of Canon Law as early as in the third month of his pontificate. The current Code of Canon Law, spelled out in 1917, called the sacraments the means of sanctification and salvation, founded by Christ, and implied that they should be administered carefully and with utmost respect. The Second Vatican Council made the theological significance of the sacraments deeper, although it provided no exhaustive definition of them. The Code of 1917 did provide for the way of exercising, administration, and reception of the sacraments, and the post-Conciliar decisions introduced more liberty towards the old regulation. The documents of the Council expressly state that Confirmation is one of the three sacraments of Christian initiation. In order to bring out the intrinsic relation between Confirmation and the whole of Christian initiation, the Second Vatican Council ordered to critically look at the ritual of Confirmation. The post-Conciliar renewal of this sacrament covered the major procedures connected with the way of its administration, most notably the very sacramental formula. The process of renewal in the bosom of Church, initiated by Pope John XXIIII int he wake of the Council, created a perfect opportunity to revise the Canon Law, which was outdated in many aspects. That was an excellent opportunity for a deep insight into the current norms of law relating to the sacrament under discussion.

This article attempts to acquaint the reader with the development of „refreshing” legal norms in the atholic Church in the period of post-Conciliar renewal.