On the Misunderstanding of Private Vows in the Catholic Church

Recently there arose the question of whether a lay person making private vows becomes a religious when they make those vows, whether privately or in conjunction with the sacred liturgy. The answer is no. The lay person remains a common lay person in terms of their canonical standing in the Catholic Church like all the rest of the vast multitude of common lay people who have not made such vows. They do not become a “type” of religious brother or sister. To claim otherwise, therefore, is outright falsehood and reflects neither the mind nor the official teachings of the Church.