Choosing a sponsor

A candidate chooses a sponsor as well as a saint, and the two decisions usually get made around the same time. The Church’s law says what a sponsor has to be, in two short canons. Here they are in full, rather than summarised — you can read the requirements yourself and check anything anyone tells you about them.

§1. To perform the function of sponsor, a person must fulfill the conditions mentioned in can. 874.

§2. It is desirable to choose as sponsor the one who undertook the same function in baptism.

Code of Canon Law, can. 893

Canon 893 §1 lists no conditions of its own — it points to canon 874, so the actual requirements are there.

§1. To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must:

1/ be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the person who takes their place, or in their absence by the pastor or minister and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function;
2/ have completed the sixteenth year of age, unless the diocesan bishop has established another age, or the pastor or minister has granted an exception for a just cause;
3/ be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on;
4/ not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared;
5/ not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized.

§2. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism.

Code of Canon Law, can. 874

In plain terms

A Catholic who has been confirmed, has received the Eucharist, and lives the faith.
At least sixteen — unless your diocesan bishop has set a different age, or your pastor makes an exception for a good reason.
Not under a Church penalty.
Not your mother or father.
The Church considers it fitting that your baptismal godparent be your Confirmation sponsor. Worth asking them first.

Your parish applies these rules and may have guidance of its own. Talk it over with the people you have in mind, with your parents, and with whoever leads your Confirmation class.