Can. 914: «It is primarily the duty of parents and of those who take their place, as it is the duty of the parish priest, to ensure that children who have reached the use of reason are properly prepared and, having made their sacramental Confession, are nourished by this divine food as soon as possible».

The Code of Canon Law is therefore in perfect accordance with Pius X’s Decree «Quam Singulari».

The duty «the parents, those who take their place and the parish priest» have is a serious obligation, as Cardinal Gennari declared in his «Brief Commentary» on the Decree Quam Singulari: «There is an obligation to receive Communion at the age of discretion. The Decree clearly affirms it. In fact, this obligation is divine as well as ecclesiastical… Therefore there is a serious obligation to administer First Communion to children as soon as they attain the use of reason» (II, I).