In persona Christi Capitis: Agency problems when God is the principal

Clara Jace and Ennio Emanuele Piano
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Ennio Emanuele Piano: Middle Tennessee State University

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Abstract: The "in persona Christi Capitis" doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church guarantees the validity of sacraments, irrespective of the morality of the individual priest. While this protects the value of the sacraments as credence goods, it seemingly encourages moral hazard on the part of the clergy. We argue that the adoption of this doctrine by the Roman Catholic Church, when combined with an increase in screening of candidates to the priesthood, may have been an optimal response to changing historical circumstances. The historical evidence supports the hypothesis that the development of the "in persona Christi Capitis" doctrine was accompanied by marginal increases in the screening of priestly candidates by the Roman CatholicChurch. Also consistent with our hypothesis, a crossection of contemporary Christian de-nominations shows a correlation between a group’s stance on sacramental theology and the strictness of its screening of candidates to religious ministry.

Date: 2020-11-09
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:grhbp_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/grhbp_v1

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