YOUCAT Question n. 207 - Who may confirm?
(Youcat answer) The sacrament of Confirmation
is normally administered by the Bishop. For weighty reasons when necessary, the
bishop can also delegate a priest to do it. In danger of death, any priest can
administer Confirmation.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 1312)
The original minister of Confirmation
is the bishop (Cf. LG 26). In the East, ordinarily the priest who baptizes also
immediately confers Confirmation in one and the same celebration. But he does
so with sacred chrism consecrated by the patriarch or the bishop, thus
expressing the apostolic unity of the Church whose bonds are strengthened by
the sacrament of Confirmation. In the Latin Church, the same discipline applies
to the Baptism of adults or to the reception into full communion with the
Church of a person baptized in another Christian community that does not have
valid Confirmation (Cf. CIC, Can. 883 § 2).
Reflecting and meditating
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 1313) In the Latin Rite, the ordinary minister
of Confirmation is the bishop (Cf. CIC, Can. 882). If the need arises, the bishop
may grant the faculty of administering Confirmation (Cf. CIC, Can. 884 § 2) to
priests, although it is fitting that he confer it himself, mindful that the
celebration of Confirmation has been temporally separated from Baptism for this
reason. Bishops are the successors of the apostles. They have received the
fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. The administration of this sacrament
by them demonstrates clearly that its effect is to unite those who receive it
more closely to the Church, to her apostolic origins, and to her mission of
bearing witness to Christ. (CCC 1314) If a Christian is in danger of death, any
priest should give him Confirmation (Cf. CIC, Can. 883 § 3). Indeed the Church
desires that none of her children, even the youngest, should depart this world
without having been perfected by the Holy Spirit with the gift of Christ's
fullness.
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