Book IV The Sacraments, excluding Matrimony

§ 1.

The Church fulfills its office of sanctifying in a special way in the sacred liturgy, which is indeed the exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ; in it through sensible signs the sanctification of humankind is signified and effected in a manner proper to each of the signs and the whole of the public worship of God is carried on by the mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and the members.

§ 2.

This worship takes place when it is carried out in the name of the Church by persons lawfully deputed and through acts approved by the authority of the Church.

§ 1.

First and foremost, the bishops exercise the office of sanctifying; they are high priests, principal dispensers of the mysteries of God and moderators, promoters and custodians of the whole liturgical life of the church committed to them.

§ 2.

The presbyters also exercise this office, they are in fact sharers of the priesthood of Christ Himself so that they are consecrated as his ministers under the authority of the bishop to celebrate divine worship and sanctify the people.

§ 3.

Deacons have a part in celebration of the divine worship in accord with the prescriptions of the law.

§ 4.

The rest of the Christian faithful by active participation in celebrations of liturgy especially in the Eucharist in their own way also have their own part in the office of sanctification; parents share in the office of sanctification in a particular way by leading a conjugal life in the Christian spirit and by seeing to Christian eduction of their children.

Since Christian worship, in which the common priesthood of the Christian faithful is exercised, is a work which proceeds from faith and is based on it, sacred ministers are to strive diligently to arouse and enlighten that faith, especially through the ministry of the word by which faith is born and nourished.

§ 1.

Liturgical actions are not private actions but celebrations of the Church itself, which is "the sacrament of unity," namely, a holy people assembled and ordered under the bishops; therefore liturgical actions pertain to the whole body of the Church and manifest and affect it, but they affect the individual members of the Church in different ways according to the diversity of orders, functions and actual participation.

§ 2.

Liturgical actions, to the extent that by their proper nature they involve a common celebration, are to be celebrated where possible with the presence and active participation of the Christian faithful.

§ 1.

The supervision of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church which resides in the Apostolic See and, in accord with the law, the diocesan bishop.

§ 2.

It is for the Apostolic See to order the sacred liturgy of the universal Church, to publish the liturgical books, to review their translations into the vernacular languages and to see that liturgical ordinances are faithfully observed everywhere.

§ 3.

It pertains to the conferences of bishops to prepare translations of the liturgical books into the vernacular languages, with the appropriate adaptations within the limits defined in the liturgical books themselves, and to publish them with the prior review by the Holy See.

§ 4.

It pertains to the diocesan bishop in the church entrusted to him, within the limits of his competence, to issue liturgical norms by which all are bound.

§ 1.

The Church carries out the office of sanctification in other ways also, whether by prayers by which God is asked that the Christian faithful be sanctified in truth, or by works of penance and charity which greatly help to root and strengthen the kingdom of Christ in souls and contribute to the salvation of the world.

§ 2.

Local ordinaries are to see to it that the prayers and other pious and sacred exercises of the Christian people are fully in harmony with the norms of the Church.