Remuneration: Clerics have the right to receive adequate financial support for their needs so they can live with dignity and carry out their ministry. Which statement is correct?

• A. Clerics have the right to receive adequate financial support.
• B. Clerics have no right to any financial support.
• C. Only bishops have remuneration.
• D. Clerics must fund themselves entirely.

Answer: (A)

Clerics are entitled to financial support from the Church so they can live with dignity and devote themselves to their ministry. This obligation is rooted in Canon Law, which requires the Church to maintain clerics at the expense of the Church, providing for their basic needs such as housing, clothing, food, medical care, and support in old age or illness. The aim is to enable them to focus on their pastoral duties without being blocked by financial insecurity.

This makes the correct statement the best choice because it affirmatively recognizes the right of clerics to adequate remuneration. The other options contradict this established obligation: denying any financial support ignores the duty to provide for clerics; claiming only bishops are remunerated is too narrow and excludes many other clerics; and forcing clerics to fund themselves entirely goes against the explicit requirement that the Church sustain them.