Can the Godparent Role Be Rescinded?

Classically, the godparent-godchild relationship was ended if the two married each other, or if one or both entered the clerical or religious state, although even these cases were not universal but more regional and cultural. The godparent-godchild relationship gave rise to what was understood as a “spiritual affinity” that was incompatible with sexual relations on the one hand or celibacy on the other. Thus, in the previous discipline there had to be a dispensation for a godchild and godparent to marry, and clerics and religious were generally not allowed to function as godparents.

Nowadays in the West, the obligations of this role are not as great as they were in previous times. Current discipline does not provide for ceasing to be a godparent or godchild. So it would seem that this would be left up to the will of the persons involved. Of course, this would be a horrible thing, akin to a father’s saying to his son, “I am no longer your father, ” or a son’s saying, “I am no longer your son.” It would seem also that loss of the Catholic faith would also remove a godparent from his role, since one who does not have the Catholic faith would ordinarily not strive to protect the Catholic faith of another. But even this is not strictly the case.