Does the Catholic Church Promulgate Anything Specific Regarding Priests and Firearms?

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In canon law, under book II, part I, chapter III, you can find the obligations and rights of clerics. You can find a few canons that you can interpret in the light of this question:

Can. 282 §1. Clerics are to foster simplicity of life and are to refrain from all things that have a semblance of vanity.

Can. 284 Clerics are to wear suitable ecclesiastical garb according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops and according to legitimate local customs.

(if a firearm is seen as decoration, this might apply)

Can. 285 §1. Clerics are to refrain completely from all those things which are unbecoming to their state, according to the prescripts of particular law. §2. Clerics are to avoid those things which, although not unbecoming, are nevertheless foreign to the clerical state.

(this is, I think, very much a local, cultural matter. A cleric should ask his bishop for advice, if this is matter of discussion. In my culture it is really an absurd question. Nobody in my culture would think it anything but totally foreign to the clerical state to carry a firearm or any other arm. But I can imagine this would be totally different in another culture)

Can. 289 §1. Since military service is hardly in keeping with the clerical state, clerics and candidates for sacred orders are not to volunteer for military service except with the permission of their ordinary.

Even though “military service” and “carrying a firearm” are not synonymous this canon might be understood as a signal that the use of weapons is not exactly what is fitting for the cervical state. But again, this is to be understood within cultural context I think. The Catholic Church does not teach pacifism like some other Christian denominations.

All quotes can be found in the Code of Canon Law on the website of the Vatican.

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