Catholic canonists warn of Synod law reform impacts

Leading canon lawyers have issued warnings regarding proposed reforms to the Code of Canon Law emerging from the Synod on Synodality. According to a report in the National Catholic Register, these proposals could potentially undermine Catholic doctrine and the Second Vatican Council by separating governing authority from Holy Orders.

The proposed changes include transferring powers traditionally reserved for the hierarchy to laypeople and expanding the scope of ecclesial infallibility. Specifically, the reforms consider allowing laypeople, including women, to serve as sole judges in ecclesiastical trials involving excommunication or clerical laicization.

Dominican canonist Father Pius Pietrzyk described the move toward a judicial college composed of those without the power of orders as “revolutionary,” suggesting it could “desacralize the Church” and turn it into a “Protestant community but with a pope.” Additionally, Father Gerald Murray stated that extending ecclesiastical jurisdiction to non-ordained Catholics rejects the teaching that the threefold office of priest, prophet, and king is reserved for the ordained.