Decretum pontificum de incesto (Nova Roma)

The Collegium Pontificum having met this 19th and 20th of July 2010, issues the following:

Decretum pontificum de incesto

I. Incestum is defined as that which pollutes whatever is held to be sacred. Incestum is therefore forbidden by religious proscriptions as nefas. (Ref: Servius Honoratus, Ad Aeneis 6.150: Et incestum est quaecumque pollutio).

II. Pax Deorum - that special relationship held within the civitas of Nova Roma with the Gods – refers to how "Romulus by his auspices and Numa by his establishment of our rituals laid the foundation of our civitas." (Ref: Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.5).

III. Acts of incestum threaten the Pax Deorum and thereby pose potential calamities to the civitas of Nova Roma that is defined and benefited by the Pax Deorum.

IV. When incestum is determined to have occurred, the collegium pontificum shall follow the principle of nefas supplicio expiare. When pollution of a sacred, holy, or religious place, or to objects dedicated to a sacred purpose, to a religious ceremony, or to holy persons occurs, the collegium pontificum shall advise the senate on what expiations are needed to restore the Pax Deorum. Where incestum results from the actions of any sacerdotes who are under the administration of the collegium pontificum, the collegium may impose whatever punishments are thought best, so long as these are instructive and corrective in nature.