Abstract (eng)
For the interpretation of Can. 844 § 3 CIC/83 and Can. 671 § 3 CCEO the specific decrees OE – especially Art. 27, sentence 1 – and UR are authoritative. It should be borne in mind that footnote 33 to Art. 27 OE is not applicable to its first sentence, which regulates the administering of penance, the Eucharist and the anointing of the sick to separated Eastern Christians. A sacramental administering according to Can. 844 § 3 CIC/83 and Can. 671 § 3 CCEO neither requires recognition of the infallibility and primacy of the Pope, nor an emergency situation or 'truly spiritual usefulness', nor the impossibility of reaching a minister of one's own church. For the permitted administration, as with Catholic believers, one's own request and the right readiness to receive are sufficient. Can. 844 § 3 CIC/83 and Can. 671 § 3 CCEO, however, permit only a sacramental community with non-Catholic churches which, in the Catholic view, have preserved valid sacraments. Consequently, an extension of this community to other churches than the legally recognised separated Eastern Churches requires in particular an agreement in the respective interconfessional dialogue on the validity of the administration of sacraments. Apart from the Antioch Syrian Orthodox Church, which is an independent Old Oriental Church, so far only the Polish Catholic National Church has been considered by the Apostolic See as in the 'same situation' in the sense of the second half of Can. 844 § 3 CIC/83 and Can. 671 § 3 CCEO, possibly also the Patriotic Church of China. Since the Catholic Church at present considers itself to be in agreement with those of Christ’s Church on the question of the validity of the sacraments and judges their validity solely according to its own understanding of the sacraments, only churches which share this understanding can be recognized within the framework of Can. 844 § 3 CIC/83 and Can. 671 § 3 CCEO respectively. Can. 844 § 3 CIC/83 and Can. 671 § 3 CCEO tacitly exclude a future invalidity of the sacraments in the Orthodox and Ancient Oriental churches.