Translation of Book III and Book IV of: The Code of Canon Law 1983

The Code of Canon Law is one of the most significant classic sources of the Catholic Church in which rituals and details of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and other important issues related to the Church have been explained. This source bears authority in the Catholic Church and as a result, it holds high importance. It is a codified text encompassing 1752 laws. The main question of the introduction of this dissertation has to do with the fact that considering how law doesn’t hold much weight in the Christian faith and plays a minimal role in one’s salvation, where did canon laws exactly originate from? What role do they exactly play in one’s salvation and where do they get their authority from? To answer this question in a nutshell, as per the Catholic faith, these laws and their authority stem from divine power granted to the apostles by Christ, who in turn have granted it to the bishops. The Code of Canon Law comprises of the following seven books: Book I: General Norms; Book II: The People of God; Book III: The Teaching Function of the Church; Book IV: The Sanctifying Function of the Church; Book V: The Temporal Goods of the Church; Book VI: Sanctions in the Church; Book VII: Processes. Books III and IV have been selected for translation in this dissertation. In Book III, The teaching function of the Church has been mentioned in five titles: The Ministry of the Divine Word; The Missionary Action of the Divine Word; Catholic Education; Instruments of Social Communication and Books in Particular; and The Profession of Faith. In Book IV, the laws pertinent to the sanctifying function of the Church have been discussed in three parts: The Sacraments; The Other Acts of Divine Worship; and Sacred Places and Times.