- 20 October, 2026
PUNE, October 20, 2026: Proposed amendments to the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law seek to expand lay participation in Church governance, make pastoral councils mandatory, strengthen financial transparency and introduce clearer accountability mechanisms across dioceses and parishes.
The proposals, outlined in a report by the Canonical Commission established by the Synod Secretariat in Rome, aim to translate the outcomes of the 2023 and 2024 Synod of Bishops assemblies on synodality into concrete changes to the Church’s legal framework.
The recommendations concern the Latin Church’s 1983 Code of Canon Law and seek to strengthen shared responsibility, participation and mission in Church decision-making.
Greater role for lay faithful
The proposed revisions recognise the co-responsibility of laypeople in the Church’s life and mission, calling for their wider involvement in governance, judicial proceedings and pastoral ministry.
Amendments to Canons 127, 208, 212 and 275 would require Church authorities seeking advice or consent from participatory bodies to provide adequate information and allow members sufficient time and freedom to express their views.
Pastors would also be explicitly required to listen to the faithful on matters concerning the good of the Church through communal discernment. Clerics would be encouraged to entrust suitable ecclesiastical offices and functions to qualified members of the faithful, in accordance with pastoral needs and individual charisms.
Laypeople eligible for judicial and leadership roles
The proposed changes to Canons 1421 and 1425 would allow diocesan bishops to appoint laypeople, alongside clerics, as diocesan judges without prior permission from the episcopal conference.
The revisions would also remove the requirement for episcopal conference permission when a bishop appoints a single judge in cases where a three-member tribunal cannot be constituted.
Under the proposed amendment to Canon 476, bishops could appoint suitable laypeople as episcopal delegates with delegated authority over specified pastoral areas or groups.
The proposals would also remove the requirement that a notary must be a priest in cases involving the reputation of a priest, as provided under Canon 483 §2.
Catechists and lay marriage assistants
The proposed revision of Canon 230 would explicitly include catechists among the stable ministries formally instituted through a liturgical rite, alongside lectors and acolytes.
It would also facilitate the delegation of lay men and women to assist at marriages. Instead of requiring permission from the Holy See, bishops would need to consult the presbyteral council before making such delegations.
Stronger synodal structures
The Commission proposes making diocesan synods mandatory, requiring every diocese to convene one at least once every ten years to review and formulate pastoral plans.
Parish pastoral councils would also become compulsory in every parish, removing the existing provision that leaves their establishment to a bishop’s judgment. Under the proposal, a decision taken without the required consultation would be invalid, although a parish priest would not be bound by the council’s opinion if he had an overriding reason.
Diocesan pastoral councils would likewise become mandatory and would have to meet at least three times a year. Delegates from other Christian denominations could participate as non-voting members.
The proposals would also require lay members chosen by pastoral councils to form the majority of diocesan synod members.
The Commission further recommends strengthening the role of presbyteral councils by replacing the restrictive “only consultative” formulation and requiring bishops to obtain their consent on specified matters. These would include establishing or suppressing parishes and seminaries, reducing churches to profane use, incardinating priests, and selling cultural or artistic assets.
Presbyteral councils would also be tasked with promoting the implementation of diocesan pastoral plans.
Episcopal conferences and communal discernment
The proposed amendment to Canon 749 would reaffirm the sensus fidei — the sense of faith shared by the faithful — by highlighting that the whole body of the faithful cannot err in matters of faith when it manifests universal consent, from the bishops to the last of the lay faithful.
To strengthen regional synodal structures, the Commission proposes that provincial councils be held at least once every ten years.
It also recommends increasing the number of laypeople and priests who may be invited to particular councils, allowing their combined representation to match the number of members participating by virtue of their office.
Under another proposal, the Apostolic See would be required to review decrees of particular councils within one year. If no response is received within that period, the decrees could be promulgated locally, in accordance with the principle qui tacet, consentire videtur — silence is taken as consent.
Annual financial reporting and transparency
The proposed revisions to Canons 391, 493 and 537 seek to establish clearer standards for transparency, evaluation and accountability in diocesan and parish administration.
Diocesan and parish finance councils would be required to publish annual financial reports, certified by independent auditors wherever possible. The diocesan finance council would publish its report before the diocesan pastoral and presbyteral councils.
Bishops would also be expected to share a summary of their quinquennial reports on the state of their dioceses with the faithful through the presbyteral and pastoral councils before submitting the reports to the Holy See.
The Commission describes the proposals as a short- to medium-term response to the Synod on Synodality. A comprehensive revision of the Code of Canon Law may be considered in the longer term.
The proposed reforms seek to embed shared responsibility, wider participation and institutional accountability more firmly in the Church’s structures of governance and pastoral decision-making.
By Fr. Merlin Ambrose
Fr. Merlin Ambrose, a priest of the Diocese of Kottar, is director of the Centre of Canon Law Studies at St Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru, and executive secretary of the Commission for Canon Law of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI).
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