Laicization (Catholic Church)

In the canon law of the Catholic Church, laicization (or laicisation) is the removal of a bishop, priest or deacon from the status of being a member of the clergy.

The term laicization used by the Catholic Church corresponds closely in meaning to the terms defrocking and unfrocking used in some other traditions. "Defrocking" has no meaning in Catholic canon law.

In the Catholic Church, a bishop, priest, or deacon may be dismissed from the clerical state as a penalty for certain grave offenses, or by a papal decree granted for grave reasons. This may be because of a serious criminal conviction, heresy, or similar matter. A Catholic cleric may also voluntarily request to be laicized for a grave personal reason. Voluntary requests are by far the most common means of laicization, and the most common reason is to marry: Latin Church clergy must as a rule be unmarried. A priest may also seek laicisation voluntarily because he disagrees with major policies or doctrines of the church and wishes to dissociate himself from those policies.

Laicization is sometimes imposed as a punishment (Latin: ad poenam), or it may be granted as a favor (Latin: pro gratia) at the priest's own request. New regulations issued in 2009 regarding priests who abandon their ministry for more than five years and whose behavior is a cause of serious scandal have made it easier for bishops to secure laicization of such priests even against the priests' wishes.

In the two years 2011 and 2012, nearly 400 Catholic priests were laicized, with a peak of 260 in 2011, nearly half of the laicizations being imposed as a penalty.

Apart from cases in which an ordination has been declared invalid, in which case no dispensation is necessary, loss of the clerical state does not in itself involve dispensation from the obligation of celibacy, which only the Pope can grant. It involves cessation of all other obligations and all the rights of the clerical state. Though because of the indelible sacramental character he maintains the power of orders, he is forbidden to exercise it except to give sacramental absolution to someone in danger of death. He also automatically loses his offices, roles and delegated powers.

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