Inštrukcia Brnianskej diecézy o vystúpení z Cirkvi v kontexte univerzálneho kánonického práva

New instructions on proceedings in case of requests on leaving the Church were promulgated on 15 November 2013 for the Diocese of Brno. They contained, apart from the theological bases and procedural-law regulations, the specification of the relevant institutions of substantive law. This was a reaction to the growing number of requests of such a character in the Czech Republic which were otherwise very wide-spread in the countries with the Church tax. The uncertainty and cautiousness of the lawgiver and the need for eventually making provision for a still developing dispute in this actual issue in the future, is primarily evident from its publication ten years after the date of its signature. This document is characterized by several theological-legal aspects, particularly within the context of the abrogated institution of defection from the communion with the Catholic Church by formal act which was part of universal canon law in the years 1983 to 2010. The main goal of this article is to point out the theological, as well as legal, bases of this instruction which lay in particular in universal penal and marriage canon law and its valuation after three years of practical application.