
Pope Francis speaks during his general audience in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 26, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
A leading Australian canon lawyer says revisions to Church law announced this week clarify the nature of certain canonical crimes and seek to ensure they are dealt with in an effective way.
Pope Francis issued the apostolic constitution Pascite Gregem Dei on June 1, reforming Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, which deals with individual crimes. The changes have been many years in the making, and revise parts of the Code published in 1983.