Hands Off the Pope!

There are 1731 canons in the Code of Canon Law (1983).  Twenty-five of those specifically relate to or focus on the Supreme Pontiff or Holy Pontiff.  I have a favorite one.  It is Canon 1370 which basically says, “Hands off the Pope!”.

In secular law there are many kinds of assaults over all of our jurisdictions.  Simple Assault, Aggravated, Sexual Assault, Deviate Assault, Assault with a deadly weapon…..  The list goes on and on and on.  But all those laws emphasize the type of assault.  Canon Law puts the focus on who is assaulted.  In c.1370, if you assault the Pope, you are excommunicated, automatically. (“excommunicatio latae sententiae”) Do not pass go and do not collect $200.  I doubt the man who shot Pope John Paul II even knew about this or since he was not Catholic, cared.

I am fascinated by the c.1370 emphasis on who you offensively touch (assault).  The canon goes on to section 2 to say that Bishops are covered too.  You also get excommunicated if you lay hands on a Bishop.  If you are a cleric and commit such an assault, there is the possibility of added penalty but after excommunication, how bad can it get?  Laicization? 

In secular law we take our victims as we find them.  You don’t get off the hook because your victim was especially frail and sustained more injury than Travis Kelce would under the same assault.  Secular law looks to sentencing, to up the punishment.  Assault on a senior or disabled or youth, could all affect the sentence, but it does not affect the crime.  Canon Law starts with who you assaulted. 

The only other person dealt with in c.1370 is someone who assaults a cleric because they did it out of contempt for the faith or the Church, or his ministry.  The Canon does not worry about ordinary, run-of-the-mill assault on lay people and specifically, no women are mentioned at all.      Good Thing we lay people and women have the civil and criminal law to help us.  Hope we never need it!