Incardination as well as excardination

Incardination is the formal term in the Catholic Church for a clergyman being under a bishop or other ecclesiastical superior. it is also sometimes used to refer to laity who may transfer to another part of the church. Examples include transfers from the Western Latin Church to an Eastern Catholic Church or from a territorial diocese to one of the three personal ordinariates for former Anglicans.

Tied to diocese or superior

As one factor of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, every Catholic priest or deacon must hit an ordinary as a superior. such(a) an ordinary is nearly often a diocesan bishop, but can also be a leader of a religious order, such(a) as the Jesuits or Franciscans, or some other ecclesiastical superior.

The aim of incardination is to ensure that no cleric is "freelance", without a pretend ecclesiastical superior to whom the cleric is accountable and who in alter is responsible for the cleric.