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Laicization or Laicisation (British English) is removal of a bishop, priest or deacon from the status of being a member of the clergy. The term "laicization" used by the Catholic Church corresponds closely in meaning to the terms "defrocking" and "unfrocking" used in some other traditions. It has been remarked that "defrocking" has no meaning in (Catholic) canon law.〔(CatholicCulture, "'Defrocking' priests: the media keep asking the wrong question" )〕 == In general == In the Catholic Church, a bishop, priest, or deacon may be ''dismissed from the clerical state'' as a penalty for certain grave offenses, or by a papal decree granted for grave reasons. This may be because of a serious criminal conviction, heresy, or similar matter. A Catholic cleric may also voluntarily request to be laicized for a grave personal reason.〔 Voluntary requests are by far the most common means of laicization, and the most common reason is to marry: Latin Church clergy must as a rule be unmarried. A priest may also seek laicisation voluntarily because he disagrees with major policies or doctrines of the church and wishes to dissociate himself from those policies. Laicization is sometimes imposed as a punishment (Latin, ''ad poenam''),〔(An example of ''ad poenam'' laicization )〕 or it may be granted as a favour (Latin, ''pro gratia'') at the priest's own request.〔(An example of ''pro gratia'' laicization )〕 New regulations issued in 2009 regarding priests who abandon their ministry for more than five years and whose behaviour is a cause of serious scandal have made it easier for bishops to secure laicization of such priests even against the priests' wishes.〔(Catholic News Service, "Pope grants congregation power to more easily laicize some priests" )〕 In the two years 2011 and 2012, nearly 400 Catholic priests were laicized, with a peak of 260 in 2011, nearly half of the laicizations being imposed as a penalty.〔("Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests for child abuse" in ''The Guardian'', 17 January 2014. )〕〔(John L. Allen, Jr, "Anatomy of a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't Vatican denial" in ''National Catholic Reporter'', 18 January 2014 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「laicization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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