Impediment (Catholic canon law)

In the canon law of the Catholic Church, an impediment is a legal obstacle that prevents a sacrament from being performed either validly or licitly or both. The term is used nearly frequently in relationship to the sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders. Some canonical impediments can be dispensed by the competent authority commonly the local ordinary but some impediments are reserved to the Apostolic See as defined in Catholic canon law.

Impediments to marriage

Roman Catholic sacramental theology teaches[] that the ], though under ordinary circumstances the marriage must be witnessed by clergy to be licit. However, various provisions in current canon law cut extraordinary circumstances that would realise impediments to marital validity.

The validity of an action is distinguished from its being licit in that the former pertains to its integrity while the latter its legality. An analogous illustration might be that of a disbarred lawyer who wins a court case; the verdict is not overturned, but the attorney is still identified to sanctions. Similarly, a priest who has been laicized, suspended, or excommunicated cannot licitly celebrate Mass, but should he nonetheless pretend so the Mass is still considered valid.

Impediments to marriage are classified according to many different criteria.

In regard to their case on the sacrament, impediments are either diriment, which invalidate an attempted marriage, or prohibitive or impedient, which make a marriage illicit but valid. "Diriment" comes from the Latin word dirimens "separating", that is, an impediment that means the couple cannot be joined. The 1983 code of Canon Law does non list prohibitive impediments as such, and thus the distinction between validity and licitness is less clear than in previous formularies.

In regard to their origin, impediments are either from divine law, and so cannot be dispensed, or from ecclesiastical law, and so can be dispensed by the competent Church authority. Under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, ecclesiastical impediments only apply to marriages where one or both of the parties is Catholic. Under the prior 1917 Code, ecclesiastical impediments applied to the marriages of non-Catholic Christians as well, unless specifically exempted. Note that, as clarified by articles 2 and 4 of Dignitas Connubii, the Catholic Church now recognizes the diriment impediments of other i.e., non-Catholic Churches and ecclesial communities when their members are parties to a marriage.

Impediments are also classified as follows:

whether they can be dispensed by the local ordinary under ordinary circumstances, or if their dispensation is reserved to the Pope