The Practice of the Congregation for Clergy Regarding Loss of the Clerical State

The article introduces the practice of the Congregation for Clergy regarding the loss of the clerical state. After an initial presentation of the structure of the dicastery, it briefly summarizes the documents required for issue of singular types of matters. It provides the greatest attention to the application of special faculties granted to the dicastery in 2009 by the description of stages of the proceeding - the diocesan and the apostolic one, illustrating the descriptions with statistical data.

Keywords: Catholic Church; Canon law; clergy; clerical state; dispensation; celibate; penalties in the Church