General Introduction 19 18 Christian Initiation 6) be a member of the Catholic Church, not prohibited by law from carrying out this office. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community may be received only as a witness of the Baptism and only together with a Catholic godparent, at the request of the parents.20 In the case of separated Eastern Christians, the special discipline for the Eastern Churches is to be respected. 11. The ordinary ministers of Baptism are Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. 1) In every celebration of this Sacrament they should be mindful that they act in the Church in the name of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. They should therefore be diligent in the ministry of the Word of God and in the celebration of the Sacrament. 2) They should avoid any action that the faithful could rightly regard as favoritism.21 3) Except in a case of necessity, they are not to confer Baptism in the territory of another, even on their own subjects, without the required permission. 12. Bishops, who are indeed the chief stewards of the mysteries of God, just as they are also the moderators of the entire liturgical life in the Church entrusted to their care,22 direct the conferring of Baptism, by which a participation in the royal priesthood of Christ is conferred.23 They themselves should not neglect to celebrate Baptism, especially at the Easter Vigil. The Baptism of adults and care for their preparation are especially entrusted to them. 13. It is the duty of pastors to assist the Bishop in the instruction and Baptism of the adults entrusted to their care, unless the Bishop makes other provisions. It is also their duty, with the assistance of catechists and other qualified laypersons, to prepare and assist the parents and godparents of children to be baptized through appropriate pastoral guidance, and finally to confer the Sacrament on infants. 20 Cf. C.I.C., can. 873 and 874, § 1 and § 2. 21 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 32; Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes, no. 29. 22 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, Christus Dominus, no. 15. 23 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, no. 26. in order to show their common faith and to express their shared joy with which the newly baptized are received into the Church. 8. In accordance with a most ancient custom of the Church, an adult is not admitted to Baptism without a godparent: a member of the Christian community who will already have assisted the candidate at least in the final preparation for receiving the Sacrament and who will help the candidate after Baptism to persevere in the faith and in the Christian life. Likewise, at the Baptism of a child a godparent should be present in order to represent both the wider spiritual family of the one to be baptized and the role of the Church as mother and, as circumstances suggest, to help the parents so that the infant will come to profess the faith and to express it in life. 9. At least in the later rites of the catechumenate and in the celebration of Baptism itself, the role of the godparent is to testify to the faith of the adult candidate or, together with the parents, to profess the Church’s faith, in which the infant is baptized. 10. Therefore the godparent, chosen by the catechumen or the family, must, in the judgment of the pastor of souls, be qualified to carry out the proper liturgical functions mentioned in no. 9, that is: 1) be designated by the one to be baptized or by the parents or by whoever takes their place or, in their absence, by the pastor or the minister of Baptism and have the aptitude and the intention to carry out this responsibility; 2) be mature enough to fulfill this responsibility; a person sixteen years old is presumed to have the requisite maturity, unless a different age has been established by the Diocesan Bishop or it seems to the pastor or minister that an exception is to be made for a just cause; 3) be initiated with the three Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, and be living a life consistent with faith and the responsibility of a godparent; 4) be neither the father nor the mother of the one to be baptized; 5) be one godparent, male or female; but there may be two, one of each sex;
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