Which entity is authorized to grant a dispensation from canonical form for marriage?

• A. The parish priest
• B. The competent authority
• C. The civil registrar
• D. The couple's pastor

Answer: (B)

Dispensation from canonical form is a special allowance within canon law that lets the Church relax the usual requirement that a Catholic marriage be celebrated in a specific form. The authority to grant that dispensation is reserved for the competent authority—the person or body with jurisdiction to authorize exceptions to church law, typically the diocesan bishop (the ordinary) or, in particular cases, the Holy See. A parish priest or the couple’s pastor does not have independent power to grant this dispensation, and a civil registrar operates under civil law rather than ecclesiastical law. Because only the competent authority can evaluate the circumstances and grant the exception, that entity is the one empowered to allow a marriage to proceed outside the standard canonical form.