Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only days of obligatory fasting throughout the world (Can. 1251). The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year (Can. 1252).

According to Canon Law, abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year (Can. 1252).

Those under 14 years of age, the sick, the elderly and frail, pregnant women, are not required to abstain.