Folia Theologica et Canonica 2. 24/16 (2013)
RECENSIONS
276 RECENSIONS make serious effect on both - ecclesiastical and civil - societies. This interest has improved basically not in general concerning the penal processes, penal principles, categories of the Church, or the entire list of ecclesiastical penalized actions; moreover not in general about the so called “most gave penalties” (i.e. delicta graviora), but regarding only those “delicta graviora” which actions harm in particular the fundamental rights and are capable to destroy the human dignity, causing serious scandal within the society. The civil analysis of such actions unfortunately made a dangerous side-effect, which intends to control and to make strong influence on the independent, own, internal ecclesiastical norm-system in order to modify that. This initiative is against the principle of separation between Church and state. Obviously, this tendency is not the first in the Church’s history and in the relation between Church and state. For example in the last time the positivist law-theory was the one which attacked the internal norm-system of the religious communities - including that canon law system which developing process was parallel with the European legal systems and made fundamental influence on them - declaring by the positivists that only the state legislative power has real authority - among defined process - to create law and promulgate that, any other form of “meta-juridical” actions are not capable to do it validly. We must emphasize that Catholic Church by her own original right has authority to form her independent internal penal law, including its principles, list of penalties, penal process and sanctions. This system crystalized through a long time and in many aspects more detailed than any state penal system because on one hand they used the ecclesiastical structure during the institutionalization in many times, on other, the canonical concept still has not lost its moral basis (i.e. relation between sin and penalty), which has disappeared from civil concept. Therefore, the ecclesiastical sanctions are much more rigorous within the Church’s own system. Nevertheless, this system can operate only spiritual instruments which are really serious for a faithful, but perhaps are not understandable for the secularized world. The list of penalized actions is much more longer and even more complicated than only those penalties which are in the focus of interesting of the civil society because their serious danger for the civil society. Peter Artner in his book gives attention to these further penalties which are very dangerous for the Church but neutral - or irrelevant - for the civil society, therefore they are out of the general interest. This volume was originally made as habilitation work at the Canon Law Institute “ad instar facultatis” of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and distributed into eight chapters (I: General Questions, 15-26; II: Obligatory Acts for those who percept possible penalized actions, 27-52; III: Various Forms of Particular Pastoral Care, 53-121; IV: Penal Precepts, 122-128; V: Application of Sanctions, 129-155; VI: Cessation of Disciplinary Regulations and Sanctions, 56-173; VII: Further Consequences of Penalized Actions, 174-194; VIII: Some Special
