Age of reason (canon law)
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The age of reason, also called the age of discretion, is the age at which children become capable of moral responsibility. On completion of the seventh year a minor is presumed to have the use of reason (canon 97 §2 of the Code of Canon Law), but mental retardation or insanity could prevent some individuals from ever reaching it. Children under the age of reason and the mentally handicapped are sometimes called "innocents" because of their inability to commit sins: even if their actions are objectively sinful, they lack capacity for subjective guilt.
While in the Eastern Churches Confirmation (also known as Chrismation) and Eucharist are bestowed on the infant who has just been baptized, in Latin Rite Catholicism, Confirmation (except in danger of death) may be lawfully conferred only on a person who has the use of reason (canon 889 §2), and Holy Communion may be administered to children only if "they have sufficient knowledge and (are) accurately prepared, so that according to their capacity they understand what the mystery of Christ means, and are able to receive the Body of the Lord with faith and devotion. The blessed Eucharist may, however, be administered to children in danger of death if they can distinguish the Body of Christ from ordinary food and receive communion with reverence" (canon 913).
Canon 989, on the sacrament of Penance, also mentions the age of discretion: "All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year."
Canon 11 lays down that, for a Catholic to be bound by merely ecclesiastical laws (those that are not of divine origin), that person must have sufficient use of reason (a requisite of natural law) and have completed the seventh year of age; but that exceptions from the second condition are allowed if the law expressly says so.
Examples of such exceptions are given in canon 1252: "The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year." (Canon 97 §1 defines the age of majority as that of those who have completed the eighteenth year of age.)
No canonical penalties may be applied to someone who has not completed the sixteenth year of age (canon 1323).
Ages higher than that of reason are prescribed for valid admission to the novitiate (canon 643), for temporary profession (canon 656), and for perpetual profession (canon 658); in order to be admitted to the initial probation in a secular institute (canon 721); for admission into a society of apostolic life (canons 643; 735 §2); to be a sponsor at baptism (canon 874) or confirmation (canon 893); for ordination (canon 1031); to contract marriage validly and licitly (canon 1083) and for many different ecclesiastical appointments (see canonical age).
