Can. 699
© Libreria Editrice Vaticana Source: vatican.va
§1. The supreme moderator with the council, which must consist of at least four members for validity, is to proceed collegially to the accurate consideration of the proofs, arguments, and defenses; if it has been decided through secret ballot, the supreme moderator is to issue a decree of dismissal with the reasons in law and in fact expressed at least summarily for validity.
§2. In the autonomous monasteries mentioned in can. 615, it belongs to the major superior, with the consent of his or her council, to decide on dismissal. [Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi, 25 March 2026]
Wording replaced by [Original version]
§2. In the autonomous monasteries mentioned in can. 615, it belongs to the diocesan bishop, to whom the superior is to submit the acts examined by the council, to decide on dismissal.
"The Supreme Pontiff Leo XIV, in the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Secretary of State, on 25 March 2026, considering that Pope Francis had already expressed a favourable opinion on the matter, granted the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life the authority to authorize the competent diocesan Bishop to issue the decree of dismissal referred to in canon 699 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law, in the event that the professed member to be dismissed is the Major Superior of the monastery."