Aspectos particulares de Ia celebración del Bautismo

Abstract

Francisco Navarro Ruiz, Particular aspects of the celebration of Baptism. The author tackles several particular aspects of the celebration of baptism, basically referring to the canonical regulation of the baptism of children, to what is established about the time and place of celebration, with special reference to the importance of the parish and the proof and registration of the baptism. The whole question which is raised by the baptism of children, is framed by the real pastoral situation of the Spanish ecclesial community, characterised by an increasing decline in religious belief and practice; as a consequence there is an ever greater phenomenon of parents who were baptised as infants but who are now unbelievers and, in their great majority, non-practicing, but who continue to ask for baptism for their children, to which they have a right according to c.96 and, in principle, an obligation according to c.867,1: the fictio iuris, legitimate in principle, which permits us to baptise children in the faith of the Church, looses its raison d'etre when the parents cannot bring their child up in a faith which they themselves lack. This is a problem which must be tackled pastorally with all honesty. Attention is also given to the conflict with civil legislation regarding parental legal competence and the canonical regulation of baptism of children over seven years of age or in danger of death; there is also a conflict over the public nature of registered data and the civil registration of religious freedom. The article therefore looks at the computerisation of baptismal registers and the documentary proof of formal abandonment of the Church, because of the canonical consequences it has that affect the validity of some acts. All of this demands an adequate particular legislation from the Spanish Episcopal Conference.