Das neue kirchliche Strafrecht zwischen Kontinuität und Diskontinuität

With the Apostolic Constitution Pascite Gregem Dei, which was promulgated on 23 May 2021, Pope Francis has implemented a long-awaited and much-discussed reform project of codicological law. The reorganised canonical criminal law of the CIC/1983 has been in force since 8 December 2021. The innovations discussed since then within the 89 revised canons include the area of ecclesiastical offences, whereby in particular offences of sexual abuse and offences in the area of asset management have been reformed. In addition, the ecclesiastical legislator has extended the list of ecclesiastical penalties and has tightened up the application and enforcement of criminal law in various ways. In some respects, the new criminal law brings clarity and improvements. In other areas, however, there are still legal terms that require interpretation and conceptual questions. The Hirschberg Conference 2022 took an in-depth look at and discussed these continuities and discontinuities in the Church's new criminal law. The papers presented at the conference, which are compiled in this volume, as well as other studies on aspects of criminal law, aim to present initial approaches to interpretation for debate and thus provide an article for a more in-depth theory of ecclesiastical criminal law and its practical application in case law.