Jus novum (c. 1140-1563) Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of the faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life In the canon law of the Catholic Church, exclaustration is the official authorization for a member of a religious order (in short, a religious) bound by perpetual vows to live for a limited time outside their religious institute, usually with a view to discerning whether to depart definitively.
[3] A religious bound by temporary vows may for a grave reason be authorized to live in the secular world to discern his/her vocation.
[7] Qualified exclaustration was suggested as a possible solution when the Society of Jesus initially refused Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest, permission to run for a seat in the United States Congress.
[9] In the case of nuns, the granting of exclaustration even for a period shorter than three years was reserved to the Holy See[10] until the promulgation of Cor Orans.
Cor Orans specifies ″the Major Superior, with the consent of her Council, can grant the indult of exclaustration to a nun professed with solemn vows, for not more than a year, after the consent of the Ordinary of the place where the nun will have to live, and after having heard the opinion of the diocesan Bishop or of the competent religious Ordinary.″[11] Apart from being granted at the request of the religious concerned, exclaustration may also, at the request of the superior general with the consent of the council, be imposed for grave reasons by the Holy See in the case of institutes of pontifical right and by the diocesan bishop in the case of institutes of diocesan right.