This volume offers a comprehensive and consistently theological interpretation of Canon Law such as has scarcely been attempted by any of the other manuals in use. It is inspired by the key conciliar notion of communio ecclesiarum, implying a structural and human reality in which is embodied a theological dimension, namely, the grace conceded by means of word and sacrament and guaranteed by apostolic succession, for which Canon Law is founded, not only anthropologically and sociologically, but also theologically. The whole of Canon Law, in this perspective, conforms to and clarifies the original elements of the church: word, sacrament, apostolic succession, and charism. It also agrees with Hans Urs von Balthasar's notion that Canon Law has the function of guaranteeing that the church as communio is and continues to be a community in love: in that love whose origin is Jesus Christ and which is given to humanity by the Holy Spirit.
