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The Code of Canon Law is intended to be a canonical reception of the ecclesial and theological insights of the Second Vatican Council. In other words, the Code puts into canonical terms the ecclesial and theological discoveries and rediscoveries of Vatican II. In doing that, the Code also inherited and appropriated the terminological, theological, intratextual and intertextual difficulties evident in the final texts of Vatican II, which were left to theologians to interpret and synthesise in the ongoing reception of the council's theology. Triplex munus is one such difficulty that made its way into the text of the Code. The Latin triplex munus ('threefold office') or tria muñera ('three offices') is a phrase or rubric used retrospectively by theologians to refer to the priestly, prophetic and kingly offices of the post-resurrection Jesus. This trilogy constitutes the overarching framework of the conciliar documents, particularly Lumen Gentium.1 This rubric is also one of the most influential structural principles underlying the ecclesiology and theology of the Code, even if it is applied somewhat inadequately in a certain sense.2
In this article, I highlight the inadequacies of the application of triplex munus in the Vatican II documents and in the Code, proposing that, for this rubric to be appropriately applied in the Code, two things are required: firstly, recovery of the theological understanding of munus not only as an 'office' or a 'function' but also, and primarily, as a 'gift'; and secondly, attention to the overlapping nature of the triplex munus and its grounding in pneumatology. There is no doubt that the term munus is polysemous. John Huels explains that the term munus has three principal meanings in contemporary canon law: firstly, it is used theologically with reference to the threefold office of Christ- triplex munus-corresponding to the threefold munera of the church, namely, sanctificandi, docendi and regendi; secondly, there is an understanding of munus in canon law as any kind of duty or service; thirdly, munus is used in canon law in the generic sense of its being an office.3 This article is concerned mainly with the first meaning of munus, that is, munus with reference to the triplex munus Christi et ecclesiae. Put simply, therefore, I argue that the term munus, within the theological understanding of...