CCC 1576

Since the sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament of the apostolic ministry, it is for the bishops as the successors of the apostles to hand on the "gift of the Spirit,"⁶³ LG 21 # 2. The "apostolic line."⁶⁴ LG 20. Validly ordained bishops, i.e., those who are in the line of apostolic succession, validly confer the three degrees of the sacrament of Holy Orders.⁶⁵ Cf. DS 794DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum) and Cf. DS 802DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); CIC, can. 1012; CCEOCCEO — Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches), can. 744; 747.