At the bedside of a newborn in danger of death, an unbelieving nurse pours water on his forehead, saying "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." A few streets away, in a church, a priest pronounces over bread the words of Christ and, according to Catholic faith, changes it into His Body. Two sacramental gestures — and yet the first may be performed by anyone, while the second belongs to the priest alone. Why this difference? Because every sacrament requires a minister, but the Church has not entrusted all the sacraments to the same hands.
The minister of a sacrament is the person who effects or confers it. Theology distinguishes two figures: the ordinary minister, to whom the law habitually attributes the administration of a sacrament, and the extraordinary minister, who may administer it in particular circumstances — by substitution, delegation or necessity. This distinction is not an administrative subtlety: it traces a genuine hierarchy of the sacred, in which each sacrament is placed in the hands of a precise rank of the Church according to what it engages.
This article answers a question that is simple to state but rich in consequences: who may confer each sacrament, and under what conditions? We shall see first what a minister is and why one is required; then the ordinary / extraordinary distinction — with a pitfall of vocabulary to avoid, that of the "extraordinary minister of Holy Communion"; next the minister of the seven sacraments one by one, from baptism to marriage; finally how the Church supplies in cases of necessity, and the spiritual meaning of this economy. For the neighbouring notions — what makes a sacrament valid or licit, and the role of intention — see the sister articles The Validity of the Sacraments, The Liceity of the Sacraments and The Minister's Intention.
What is the "minister" of a sacrament?
Before distinguishing ministers from one another, we must understand why a sacrament requires a minister. The word itself sheds light: minister, in Latin, means servant. The minister is not the author of the sacrament; he is its instrument and servant. This is a decisive idea, for it governs all the rest: if the sacrament belonged to the minister, its worth would depend on his holiness; because it belongs to Christ, it does not.
The minister, third constituent of the sacrament
The Council of Florence, in 1439, enumerated the elements without which a sacrament does not take place. It counts three — and the minister is the third:
"All these sacraments are brought about by three elements: things as matter, words as form, and the person of the minister conferring the sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does. If any of these elements is lacking, the sacrament is not brought about." — Council of Florence, Decree for the Armenians, 1439[1]
Matter (water, oil, bread and wine…) and form (the essential words) are treated in Matter and Form of the Sacraments; the intention "of doing what the Church does" in The Minister's Intention. The present article concerns the third term: the person of the minister. Florence states it plainly — without a qualified minister, "the sacrament is not brought about." It remains to be known who is qualified, and for what.
"It is not man who acts, it is Christ"
The great law governing the figure of the minister is that he never acts in his own name. For the sacraments that touch the priesthood — first among them the Eucharist — the minister acts in persona Christi, "in the person of Christ": the priest lends his voice and hands to Christ, who remains the first agent. The Catechism formulates it concerning the Mass:
"At its head, Christ himself, who is the principal agent of the Eucharist. He is the high priest of the New Covenant. It is by representing Him that the bishop or the priest (acting 'in persona Christi capitis') presides over the assembly." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1348[2]
For other acts, the minister acts rather in persona Ecclesiae, "in the name of the Church": thus the priest or deacon who, at a wedding, "receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church"[3]. In both cases the principle is the same: the minister is a representative, not a source. This is what grounds Saint Augustine's ancient answer to the Donatists — "whether Peter baptizes, it is He who baptizes; whether Judas baptizes, it is still He who baptizes" — developed in The Liceity of the Sacraments. The sacrament does not draw its force from the virtue of the man, but from the power of Christ acting through him.
Why the sacrament is not a self-production
One might object: if it is Christ who acts, why is a man needed at all? Why not receive the sacrament directly from God, without an intermediary? The answer lies in the logic of the Incarnation. God willed to save men through men, by means of sensible signs entrusted to a visible, hierarchical Church. The sacrament is not an inward act one gives oneself: it is a gift received, passing through one who is sent. No one baptizes himself; no one absolves himself; no one ordains himself. The minister embodies this exteriority of salvation: grace comes to me from an Other, through the channel of a Church that precedes me.
This is also why the Council of Trent struck with anathema the idea that each person would be his own minister:
"If anyone says that all Christians have power over the word and over the administration of the sacraments: let him be anathema." — Council of Trent, Session VII, Canon 10 on the sacraments in general[4]
The power of administering the sacraments is therefore not an indistinct right of the baptized: it is apportioned by Christ to determined ministers. It remains to be seen how.
Ordinary minister, extraordinary minister: a distinction to be understood
Once it is admitted that a minister is needed, the Church specifies who he must be for each sacrament. And it is here that the distinction giving this article its title comes into play: between the ordinary minister and the extraordinary minister.
The ordinary minister: to whom the law habitually entrusts the sacrament
The ordinary minister of a sacrament is the one to whom the law of the Church attributes its administration of itself, in the normal course of things. He exercises it not by exception, but by state. Thus the Code of Canon Law states, sacrament by sacrament, who the ordinary minister is: for baptism, "the bishop, the priest and the deacon"[5]; for the anointing of the sick, the priest alone[6]; for ordination, "the consecrated bishop"[7]. The expression "ordinary minister" does not designate a commonplace or second-rank minister: on the contrary, it designates the appointed holder of the sacrament, the one to whom it belongs by office.
The extraordinary minister: the substitution foreseen by the Church
The extraordinary minister is the one who may confer the sacrament outside the ordinary course, in cases the Church has foreseen: absence or impediment of the ordinary minister, necessity, danger of death, particular delegation. It is never a matter of a power seized or improvised: the Church herself foresees and regulates these substitutions. The extraordinary minister therefore acts with a real authorization, but a subordinate and conditional one.
Baptism offers the clearest example. Its ordinary minister is the cleric; but in case of necessity, the law opens very widely:
"If the ordinary minister is absent or impeded, a catechist or another person deputed to this office by the local Ordinary licitly confers baptism, and indeed, in case of necessity, any person acting with the required intention." — Code of Canon Law, Canon 861 § 2[8]
The deputed catechist is here an extraordinary minister by office, provided for lasting situations in missions and parishes without a priest; and "any person" becomes an extraordinary minister of necessity at the threshold of death. We shall return below to this logic of necessity.
A pitfall of vocabulary: "extraordinary minister of communion"
A frequent confusion must be dispelled here. When a lay faithful distributes communion at Mass or carries it to the sick, he is called an "extraordinary minister of Holy Communion." Many conclude from this that a layperson could, extraordinarily, celebrate the Eucharist. That is a misunderstanding.
The "extraordinary minister of communion" is not a minister of the sacrament of the Eucharist: he is only its distributor. He consecrates nothing — he gives the faithful bread already consecrated by the priest. The Code carefully distinguishes the two registers:
"§ 1. The ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the bishop, the priest and the deacon. § 2. The extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the acolyte and any other faithful deputed according to the provisions of can. 230 § 3." — Code of Canon Law, Canon 910[9]
This canon concerns the distribution of communion, not its making. For consecration, the law is quite different and admits no extraordinary possibility: "Only the validly ordained priest is the minister who, in the person of Christ, can effect the sacrament of the Eucharist."[10] In other words: there are extraordinary ministers of communion (who distribute), but there is no extraordinary minister of consecration. The word "extraordinary" qualifies the service of distribution, never the power of consecrating. Keeping this boundary in mind avoids most popular errors on the subject.
A gradation according to what the sacrament engages
Why does the Church open baptism so widely, and reserve the Eucharist, absolution, anointing and holy orders so jealously? Because the sacraments do not all touch the same point. A gradation appears, reading like a scale: the more a sacrament brings into play the sacerdotal power proper — acting in persona Christi capitis, consecrating, absolving, ordaining — the more its minister must be ordained; conversely, the more a sacrament concerns entry itself into salvation — baptism, without which one cannot be saved in the ordinary way — the more the Church opens it, up to "any person."
The following table orders the seven sacraments according to the breadth of their minister, from the most open to the most reserved. It should be read as the map of the whole article.
| Sacrament | Who may confer it | Breadth of the minister |
|---|---|---|
| Baptism | In necessity, any person (even unbaptized); ordinarily bishop, priest, deacon | The widest |
| Marriage | The spouses themselves (Latin tradition), before a qualified witness of the Church | Singular case: the faithful themselves |
| Eucharist (communion) | Distribution: bishop, priest, deacon; extraordinarily the acolyte or a deputed layperson | Wide for distribution |
| Confirmation | Bishop; priest endowed with the faculty (by law or by concession) | Reserved, but delegable |
| Penance | The priest alone, endowed with the faculty (which touches validity) | Reserved to the priest |
| Anointing of the sick | Every priest, and the priest alone | Reserved to the priest |
| Eucharist (consecration) | The validly ordained priest, in persona Christi | Reserved to the priest |
| Holy Orders | The consecrated bishop alone (pontifical mandate required to consecrate a bishop) | The most reserved |
This scale is not arbitrary: it expresses the nature of each sacrament. We shall now walk through it sacrament by sacrament.
The minister of each sacrament
This is the heart of the article: for each of the seven sacraments, who its ordinary minister is, who may be so extraordinarily, and why. We follow the order of the gradation, from the most open to the most reserved.
Baptism: from the deacon to the passer-by of good will
Baptism is the sacrament with the widest minister, because it is the gate of salvation. Its ordinary minister is threefold: "the bishop, the priest and the deacon"[11]. But its necessity for salvation has led the Church never to make access to it depend on the presence of a cleric. In case of necessity, "any person" may baptize, provided the rite is performed with the intention of doing what the Church does:
"In case of necessity, any person, even if not baptized, with the required intention, may baptize, using the Trinitarian baptismal formula." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1256[12]
The Council of Florence had already said it in striking terms: in necessity, valid baptism may be given by "not only a priest or a deacon, but even a layman or a woman, indeed a pagan or a heretic"[13]. The reason for this exceptional breadth? "The universal salvific will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation"[14]. God did not will the salvation of a dying person to depend on the chance of a priestly presence. The detail of this sacrament is treated in Baptism.
Confirmation: the bishop first, the priest by faculty
Confirmation follows another logic. Its original minister is the bishop, for it seals the baptized person's apostolic bond with the Church:
"The original minister of Confirmation is the bishop. In the Latin rite, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 1312-1313[15]
But — a capital point — the priest may confirm validly if he has received the faculty, by law or by concession of the bishop. The Code specifies: the bishop is the ordinary minister, "the priest, endowed with this faculty by universal law or by a particular concession of the competent authority, also validly confers this sacrament"[16]. Thus, in the East, it is ordinarily the priest who confirms immediately after baptism, with the holy chrism consecrated by the bishop[17]. In the Latin rite, the priest has the faculty by law to confirm in two notable cases: when he baptizes, by virtue of his office or a mandate, a child past infancy (or an adult) or receives into full communion a person baptized in another confession, and when a faithful is in danger of death[18].
"If a Christian is in danger of death, any priest may give him Confirmation. For the Church wants none of her children, even the littlest, to leave this world without having been perfected by the Holy Spirit." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1314[19]
Confirmation thus illustrates an intermediate regime: reserved par excellence to the bishop, but delegable to the priest, to whom a faculty confers the power to give it. See Confirmation.
The Eucharist: the priest alone consecrates, the deacon and the layperson distribute
The Eucharist requires distinguishing two acts that are wholly opposed: consecrating and distributing. Consecration — changing bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ — belongs to the priest alone, without exception or substitution:
"Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and wine that they may become the Body and Blood of the Lord." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1411[20]
The reason is that the priest acts here in persona Christi capitis: to repeat, with their efficacy, the words of Christ at the Supper requires the sacrament of Orders. No layperson, not even a deacon, can consecrate — this is the limit the word "extraordinary" never crosses (see above).
The distribution of communion, on the other hand, opens more widely. Its ordinary ministers are the bishop, the priest and the deacon; its extraordinary ministers, "the acolyte and any other faithful deputed"[21], by virtue of canon 230, which allows laypeople, "where the need of the Church requires it through lack of ministers," to "distribute Holy Communion"[22]. The deacon, for his part, is never a minister of consecration, but he is an ordinary minister of communion and of viaticum. The detail is treated in The Eucharist.
Penance: the priest, and the faculty that touches validity
The sacrament of penance has the priest as its sole minister: "Only the priest is the minister of the sacrament of penance"[23]. But one particularity brings it close to confirmation and sets it apart from baptism: to absolve validly, the priest must have not only the power of order, but also the faculty of exercising it over such penitents.
"For the absolution of sins to be valid, it is required that the minister, besides the power of order, have the faculty of exercising it towards the faithful to whom he gives absolution." — Code of Canon Law, Canon 966 § 1[24]
This is one of the rare cases where an authorization of the Church — the faculty, which continues the ancient jurisdiction — conditions validity itself, and not liceity alone. A priest without the faculty does not absolve merely illicitly: he does not absolve at all (apart from cases of substitution). This delicate point is studied in its own right in The Validity of the Sacraments and Confession. The great exception — danger of death — will be taken up below.
Anointing of the sick: "every priest, and the priest alone"
The anointing of the sick has a minister of absolute clarity, taken word for word from the Council of Trent by the present Code:
"Every priest, and the priest alone, validly administers the anointing of the sick." — Code of Canon Law, Canon 1003 § 1[25]
The Catechism confirms it: "Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick"[26]. Neither the deacon nor the layperson may confer it — a note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly recalled this in 2005. The formula of canon 1003 is remarkable for its double bound: "every priest" (breadth: any priest, without reserve of faculty for validity) "and the priest alone" (limit: never below the presbyteral priesthood). See The Anointing of the Sick.
Holy Orders: the bishop alone, and the mandate of the Pope
The sacrament of Orders — which makes deacons, priests and bishops — has as its sole minister the consecrated bishop:
"The minister of sacred ordination is the consecrated bishop." — Code of Canon Law, Canon 1012[27]
The Catechism specifies that "validly ordained bishops […] validly confer the three degrees of the sacrament of Orders"[28]. It is the sacrament with the most reserved minister, for through it apostolic succession is perpetuated: only a bishop, himself in the unbroken chain going back to the Apostles, can make other ministers. The validity of an ordination therefore depends on the validity of the consecration of the ordaining bishop — hence the importance, for the whole sacramental chain, of the integrity of ordinations.
For validity, it suffices that the consecrator be a validly ordained bishop. But for liceity, the Church further requires the pontifical mandate: "It is not permitted to any bishop to consecrate anyone a bishop unless the existence of the pontifical mandate is first established"[29]. This is precisely the point separating valid from licit in the Écône consecrations of 1988, treated in The Liceity of the Sacraments. The sacrament of Orders itself is studied in The Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Marriage: the spouses as ministers, the priest as qualified witness
Marriage is the singular case of the whole series. In the Latin tradition, its ministers are neither the bishop, nor the priest, nor the deacon: they are the spouses themselves.
"According to the Latin tradition, it is the spouses who, as ministers of Christ's grace, mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing before the Church their consent." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1623[30]
The priest or deacon is therefore not, in the West, the minister of the sacrament: he is its qualified witness, the one who "welcomes the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church"[31]. His presence belongs to the canonical form required for validity: "Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local Ordinary or else before the parish priest, or before a priest or deacon delegated […], who assists at the marriage, and before two witnesses"[32]. The assistant "asks for the manifestation of the consent of the contracting parties, and receives it in the name of the Church"[33] — but it is indeed the spouses who make the sacrament.
This discipline knows two remarkable relaxations. Where "there is neither priest nor deacon," the diocesan bishop may, with the favourable opinion of the episcopal conference and the authorization of the Holy See, delegate laypersons to assist at marriages[34]. And in the extraordinary form, when no qualified assistant is accessible without grave inconvenience, the betrothed may validly marry "before witnesses alone" — in danger of death, or if the situation is expected to last a month[35]. The Eastern tradition, for its part, holds the priest to be the minister of the sacrament, his blessing being "also necessary for validity"[36]. See Marriage.
Summary table of the ministers of the seven sacraments
The table below synthesizes, for each sacrament, its ordinary minister, the extraordinary minister or particular case foreseen, and the principal canonical reference. It fixes at a glance all that precedes.
| Sacrament | Ordinary minister | Extraordinary minister / case | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baptism | Bishop, priest, deacon | In necessity: any person with the required intention | can. 861; CCC 1256 |
| Confirmation | Bishop (Latin rite) | Priest endowed with the faculty (baptism of a child past infancy — or of an adult —, danger of death) | can. 882-883; CCC 1312-1314 |
| Eucharist | Consecration: priest alone. Communion: bishop, priest, deacon | Distribution: acolyte or deputed layperson (can. 230 §3) | can. 900, 910; CCC 1411 |
| Penance | Priest endowed with the faculty (touches validity) | Danger of death: any priest (can. 976) | can. 965-966, 976 |
| Anointing of the sick | Every priest, and the priest alone | — (neither deacon nor layperson) | can. 1003; CCC 1516 |
| Holy Orders | Consecrated bishop (pontifical mandate to consecrate a bishop) | — | can. 1012-1013; CCC 1576 |
| Marriage | The spouses (Latin tradition); the priest/deacon assists | Delegated layperson (can. 1112); witnesses alone (can. 1116) | can. 1108; CCC 1623 |
A vertical reading of the last column reveals the overall logic: baptism and marriage overflow the circle of the clergy (up to "any person" or up to the spouses), while the consecrated Eucharist, penance, anointing and holy orders remain enclosed within the priesthood — holy orders, at the very summit, within the episcopate alone.
When the Church supplies: necessity and danger of death
A thread runs through all that precedes: as soon as the salvation of a soul is at stake, the Church widens or supplies. This flexibility is not a relaxation of discipline; it is its deepest spirit, summed up by the last canon of the Code: "the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church"[37].
Danger of death, the great loosening
Danger of death acts as a key opening the ordinary locks. We have seen it for each sacrament: any faithful may then baptize[38]; any priest may confirm[39]; any priest, even without the faculty, may absolve:
"In case of danger of death, any priest, even if lacking the faculty of hearing confessions, validly and licitly absolves from all censures and all sins any penitent." — Code of Canon Law, Canon 976[40]
This canon is the purest example of the principle: a priest who, in normal times, would not absolve validly for lack of the faculty, absolves at the threshold of death "validly and licitly." It is not the priest arrogating a power to himself: it is the Church which, before the eternity of a soul, gives him the faculty he lacked.
Ecclesia supplet: the Church supplies the missing faculty
Canonical theology names this mechanism Ecclesia supplet — "the Church supplies." When a faculty required for validity is lacking, the Church herself supplies it in certain cases — danger of death, common error, positive and probable doubt. The sacrament, which without this would be invalid, becomes valid because the Church supplies what the minister lacked. This shows that the power of conferring the sacraments is never the private property of the minister: it comes to him from the Church, and the Church can complete it when the good of souls requires. The extraordinary minister of necessity is, at bottom, only the arm by which the Church herself bends over the emergency.
Sacramentals and blessings: an even wider minister
Beyond the seven sacraments, the Church knows sacramentals — blessings, consecrations of objects, exorcisms. Their minister is ordinarily a cleric, but some are entrusted to the laity:
"Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood […]. Certain blessings […] may be given by laypeople." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1669[41]
Thus parents blessing their children. But the distinction must be kept: a sacramental is not a sacrament, and the breadth of its minister prejudges nothing of that of the sacraments properly so called. This subject is treated in Sacramentals and Blessings.
What the figure of the minister teaches us
Behind canonical precision, the figure of the minister carries a spiritual lesson valid for every Christian — cleric or lay.
The minister, servant and not owner
The first lesson is that the minister is never the master of the sacrament, but its servant. The word said so from the start: minister, servant. The priest does not possess the Eucharist; he receives it from the Church in order to give it. The bishop does not dispose of the episcopate; he transmits it according to the mandate received. Even the spouses, ministers of their marriage, do not create the sacrament: they administer it according to the institution of Christ. The whole discipline of ministers recalls this truth: no one appropriates what comes from on high.
The greatness of the priesthood and the dignity of the baptized
The gradation of ministers says, in hollow, two greatnesses. On one side, the dignity of the ordained priesthood: that a bishop be needed to ordain, a priest to consecrate and absolve, manifests that these acts touch the very power of Christ the Head, which no human good will could replace. On the other, the dignity of the baptized: that "any person" may baptize in case of necessity, that the spouses be ministers of their marriage, manifests that the baptismal priesthood of all the faithful is no empty formula. The Church does not oppose these two priesthoods: she articulates them. The extraordinary minister and the ordinary minister do not compete; each in his place, they serve the same gift.
Christ, the one high priest
The last lesson is the highest. Whatever the minister — bishop, priest, deacon, layperson, spouse — the first agent is always Christ. It is He who baptizes when the nurse pours the water; it is He who forgives when the priest absolves; it is He who unites when the spouses exchange their consent. The minister effaces himself to let the gift pass through: he is like the ray of light that passes through without being soiled. The diversity of ministers does not fragment salvation; it reveals its unique source. Hic est qui baptizat — "it is He who baptizes." The whole economy of ministers does, in the end, nothing but point the finger at the one and eternal high priest, of whom each, in his measure, is but the servant.
- 1439Council of Florence
The Decree for the Armenians ranks "the person of the minister" among the three constituents of the sacrament, alongside matter and form (DS 1312).
- 1547Council of Trent, Session VII
The canons on the sacraments strike with anathema the idea that "all Christians" would have power over the administration of the sacraments (can. 10).
- 1917First Code of Canon Law
The 1917 Code fixes in juridical form the ordinary and extraordinary ministers of each sacrament.
- 1964Vatican II — Lumen gentium
The constitution on the Church articulates the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood, the foundation of the twofold breadth of ministers.
- 1973Immensae caritatis
Paul VI's instruction formally institutes the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion — who distributes, and does not consecrate.
- 1983Code of Canon Law of John Paul II
The present Code specifies, sacrament by sacrament, the minister required "for validity" and "for liceity" (can. 861-1116).
- 2016De concordia inter Codices
Francis's motu proprio adjusts the delegation of laypeople to assist at marriages where priests and deacons are lacking (can. 1112).
To go further
Related Ignispedia articles
- The Validity of the Sacraments — when a sacrament "holds": the minister's power is one of the conditions
- The Liceity of the Sacraments — valid vs licit: the case of the Écône consecrations (1988)
- The Minister's Intention — the fourth constituent: "doing what the Church does"
- Matter and Form of the Sacraments — the "thing" and the "words" of the sacrament
- The Sacramental Character — the mark received by bishops, priests and the baptized
- What Is a Sacrament? — the general definition
- The seven sacraments: Baptism · Confirmation · The Eucharist · Confession · The Anointing of the Sick · Holy Orders · Marriage
Primary sources cited
- Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 230, 861, 882-883, 900, 910, 965-966, 976, 1003, 1012-1013, 1108, 1112, 1116, 1752.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 1256, 1312-1314, 1348, 1411, 1516, 1576, 1623, 1630, 1669.
- Council of Florence, Decree for the Armenians, 22 November 1439 (DS 1312, 1315).
- Council of Trent, Session VII (3 March 1547), Canons on the Sacraments in General (DS 1610).
Notes and References
Council of Florence (ecumenical), bull of union with the Armenians Exsultate Deo, Decree for the Armenians, 22 November 1439 — DS 1312: "Haec omnia sacramenta tribus perficiuntur, videlicet rebus tamquam materia, verbis tamquam forma, et persona ministri conferentis sacramentum cum intentione faciendi quod facit Ecclesia. Quorum si aliquod desit, non perficitur sacramentum." — "All these sacraments are brought about by three elements: things as matter, words as form, and the person of the minister conferring the sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does; if one is lacking, the sacrament is not brought about." The "intention" constituent is studied in lintention-du-ministre.
1Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1348: "At its head, Christ himself, who is the principal agent of the Eucharist. He is the high priest of the New Covenant… It is by representing Him that the bishop or the priest (acting 'in persona Christi capitis') presides over the assembly… the whole people whose Amen manifests their participation."
2Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1630: "The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church." The assistant acts in persona Ecclesiae: he is not the minister of the sacrament (Latin tradition), but the Church's qualified witness.
3 31Council of Trent, Session VII (3 March 1547), Canons on the Sacraments in General, Canon 10 — DS 1610: "Si quis dixerit, omnes Christianos potestatem habere in verbo et in administratione sacramentorum: anathema sit." — "If anyone says that all Christians have power over the word and over the administration of the sacraments: let him be anathema." The power of administering the sacraments is therefore apportioned to determined ministers, not held indistinctly by every baptized person.
4Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 861: "§ 1. The ordinary minister of baptism is the bishop, the priest and the deacon… § 2. If the ordinary minister is absent or impeded, a catechist or another person deputed to this office by the local Ordinary licitly confers baptism, and indeed, in case of necessity, any person acting with the required intention." Hence the twofold figure: ordinary minister (the cleric), extraordinary minister (the deputed catechist or, in necessity, any person).
5 8 11 38Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1003 § 1: "Every priest, and the priest alone, validly administers the anointing of the sick." (§ 2: it is "the duty and the right of all priests entrusted with the care of souls" to administer it; any other priest may do so for a reasonable cause, with at least presumed consent.) Takes up the doctrine of the Council of Trent: neither the deacon nor the layperson is a minister of this sacrament.
6 25Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1012: "The minister of sacred ordination is the consecrated bishop." Only a validly ordained bishop can confer the three degrees of Orders (diaconate, presbyterate, episcopate).
7 27Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 910: "§ 1. The ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the bishop, the priest and the deacon. § 2. The extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the acolyte and any other faithful deputed according to the provisions of can. 230 § 3." This canon concerns the distribution of communion, never its making (reserved to the priest, can. 900).
9 21Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 900 § 1: "Only the validly ordained priest is the minister who, in the person of Christ, can effect the sacrament of the Eucharist." (Latin: "…sacramentum Eucharistiae conficere valet, est solus sacerdos valide ordinatus.") The power of consecrating admits no extraordinary minister.
10Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1256: ordinary ministers (bishop, priest, deacon); "in case of necessity, any person, even if not baptized, with the required intention, may baptize," using the Trinitarian formula; foundation in "the universal salvific will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation" (reference to DS 1315).
12 14Council of Florence, Exsultate Deo, 22 November 1439 — DS 1315: in case of necessity, "not only a priest or a deacon, but even a layman or a woman, indeed a pagan or a heretic" may validly baptize, provided the form is respected and there is the intention of doing what the Church does.
13Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1313: "In the Latin rite, the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop (cf. CIC, can. 882). Even if the bishop may, in case of necessity, concede the faculty to priests to administer Confirmation (CIC, can. 884, § 2), it is fitting that he confer it himself."
15Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 882: "The bishop is the ordinary minister of confirmation; the priest, endowed with this faculty by universal law or by a particular concession of the competent authority, also validly confers this sacrament." For confirmation, as for penance, the faculty received from the Church conditions validity (and not liceity alone).
16Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1312: "The original minister of Confirmation is the bishop. In the East, it is ordinarily the priest who baptizes who also immediately gives Confirmation in one and the same celebration. He does so, however, with the holy chrism consecrated by the patriarch or the bishop, which expresses the apostolic unity of the Church…"
17Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 883: have by law itself the faculty of administering confirmation: "1° […] those who are equivalent in law to the diocesan bishop; 2° as regards the person concerned, the priest who, by virtue of his office or by mandate of the diocesan bishop, baptizes someone past infancy or receives into the full communion of the Church; 3° for those in danger of death, the pastor and indeed any priest."
18 39Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1314: "If a Christian is in danger of death, any priest may give him Confirmation (cf. CIC, can. 883, § 3). For the Church wants none of her children, even the littlest, to leave this world without having been perfected by the Holy Spirit with the gift of the fullness of Christ."
19Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1411: "Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and wine that they may become the Body and Blood of the Lord."
20Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 230 § 3: "Where the need of the Church requires it through lack of ministers, laypersons may also, even if they are neither lectors nor acolytes, supply for certain of their functions, namely to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside over liturgical prayers, to confer baptism and to distribute Holy Communion, according to the provisions of the law."
22Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 966 § 1: "For the absolution of sins to be valid, it is required that the minister, besides the power of order, have the faculty of exercising it towards the faithful to whom he gives absolution." (Can. 965: "Only the priest is the minister of the sacrament of penance.") A case where an authorization of the Church — the faculty — conditions validity, not liceity alone.
23 24Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1516: "Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick. It is the duty of pastors to instruct the faithful on the benefits of this sacrament."
26Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1576, citing Lumen gentium 20-21: "Validly ordained bishops, that is, those in the line of apostolic succession, validly confer the three degrees of the sacrament of Orders" (cf. CIC, can. 1012). Foundation of apostolic succession.
28Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1013: "It is not permitted to any bishop to consecrate anyone a bishop unless the existence of the pontifical mandate is first established." The consecration of a bishop without pontifical mandate is valid but gravely illicit (cf. Écône 1988, see la-liceite-des-sacrements).
29Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1623: "According to the Latin tradition, it is the spouses who, as ministers of Christ's grace, mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing before the Church their consent. In the traditions of the Eastern Churches, the priests — bishops or priests — are witnesses to the mutual consent exchanged by the spouses, but their blessing is also necessary for the validity of the sacrament."
30 36Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1108: "§ 1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local Ordinary or else before the parish priest, or before a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assists at the marriage, and before two witnesses… § 2. By assistant at a marriage is meant only the person who, being present, asks for the manifestation of the consent of the contracting parties, and receives it in the name of the Church." This is the canonical form, a condition of validity.
32 33Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1112 § 1: "Where there is neither priest nor deacon, the diocesan bishop, with the favourable opinion of the conference of bishops and with the authorization of the Holy See, may delegate laypersons to assist at marriages." (Text adjusted by the motu proprio De concordia inter Codices, 31 May 2016.)
34Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1116: "§ 1. If it is not possible to have or to go to without grave inconvenience a competent assistant according to the law, those who wish to contract a true marriage may validly and licitly contract it before witnesses alone: 1° in case of danger of death; 2° outside danger of death, provided it is prudently foreseen that this situation will last a month." The extraordinary form of marriage.
35Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 1752 (last canon of the Code): "…keeping before one's eyes the salvation of souls which must always be the supreme law in the Church" (salus animarum suprema lex). This principle explains why the Church widens or supplies the minister as soon as the necessity of salvation requires it (cf. can. 861 § 2, 883, 976).
37Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 976: "In case of danger of death, any priest, even if lacking the faculty of hearing confessions, validly and licitly absolves from all censures and all sins any penitent, even in the presence of an approved priest." Manifestation of the Ecclesia supplet principle: the Church supplies the missing faculty when salvation requires it.
40Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1669: sacramentals "derive from the baptismal priesthood"; "the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more its administration is reserved to the ordained ministry"; but "certain blessings… may be given by laypeople" (cf. CIC, can. 1168). A sacramental is not a sacrament: the breadth of its minister prejudges nothing of that of the sacraments.
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