The Roman Catholic Church has hundreds of Canon laws and Canon lawyers. Like the secular legal system not all laws are understood clearly and when there are questions about what one can and can not do within the legal system one contacts a lawyer. When in question, if I understand it correctly, most clerics are not church lawyers and they would pose their questions to the Bishop's Office and Canon lawyers may or may not be consulted.
The question about Canon law in 1600's is a good one and we do have to be careful about applying today's standards to a earlier time. Just in the last 50 years the Catholic Church has made many changes, like for example allowing annulments in marriage,and just look at what Pope Francis is trying to get the Cardinals and Bishops to look at in regards to contemporary social issues like divorce and remarriage. Some issues are left to the judgement of the local pastor who has the job of listening to each person's individual situation. Thus I am sure those of us from a catholic background have seen different decisions made in regards to similar situations. George Sent from my iPad On Feb 9, 2016, at 10:44 AM, "\"E\" Sharp" <bellema...@gmail.com> wrote: > I don't know about Canon law, etc. but 15 years ago when my last grandson was > born his parents wanted his older brother 12 and sister 14 to be the > godparents and the priest at the church gave them a emphatic "no." They had > to be at least 16. > > "E" > > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right > that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
