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The Code of Canon Law is promulgated

1917 · Rome (Rome, Italy)

In May 1917 Benedict XV promulgates the Codex Iuris Canonici, the first single code of canon law for the Latin church, gathering two millennia of decrees, councils, and customs into two thousand four hundred and fourteen canons. The code centralizes the church's governance in Roman form and stands until its revision in 1983.

Tagged: Catholic

The Event

Date
1917 (exact)
Era
The Modern and Global Church; Standard periodization of Catholic history
Location
Rome; today Rome, Italy
Traditions
Catholicism
Streams
Catholic
Key figures
Benedict XV, Pietro Gasparri
Key texts
Codex Iuris Canonici (1917)

Primary Sources

  • Benedict XV, Providentissima Mater Ecclesia, promulgating the Codex Iuris Canonici, 1917.

Secondary Sources

  • Chadwick, Owen. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  • Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
  • Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. London: Penguin, 2009.
  • O'Malley, John W. Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Provenance: HIST-1342; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.

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