Ecclesiastical Laws and Digital Publishing: The New Frontiers of Promulgation in Canon Law

Technological evolution has redefined spaces and methods of communication also within the Catholic Church. The speed of information exchange, the possibility of reaching a large number of recipients, and the absence of costs represent the advantages of online communication. The diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) involved also the publication of canon laws and it asks about the possibility of using the internet as a way of promulgating the law. The characteristics of the network make it possible to know the text faster than the printed one and its diffusion does not meet space limits, since the published norm reaches every territory, thus becoming binding. The restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have further favored the spread of instruments of digital communication. In this perspective, online promulgation could constitute a solution to the limits of canonical legislative governance, allowing the diffusion of legal texts, the relative knowledge, and obligation