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A formal act of defection from the Catholic Church (Latin: actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica) was an externally provable juridic act of departure from the Catholic Church that existed between 1983 and 2010.[1]
The act was recognized from 1983 to 2010 in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as having certain juridical effects enumerated in canons 1086, 1117, and 1124. The concept of "formal" act of defection was narrower than that of "notorious" (publicly known) defection recognized in the 1917 Code of Canon Law.[2][3] In 2006, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts specified in what a formal act of defection from the Catholic Church consisted.[4]
In 2009, after Omnium in mentem, all mention of a formal act of defection from the Catholic Church and of any juridical effects deriving from it was removed from the Code.[5]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).