Apostates-Can they be saved

[mro]

I just got back from a religion class and we had a debate over whether people who renounce the faith in various forms, curse the church, or leave the faith can be forgiven…

Can these apostates be welcome back into the Church through confession or intercession of a Bishop or the Pope if they truly believe they were wrong?

 

[BigFellaMick]

Anyone who is not already judged and in hell can repent and return to the Church. The sad truth of the matter is many who turn apostate or remain set in their ways and deny the Truth of the Catholic Church, are less likely to “try” to reconcile themselves with Christ.

 

[Trishie]

From the Code of Canon Law

This canon gives indication that apostates can be saved if they repent.

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P4C.HTM

Can. 1184 §1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:

1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;

2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;

3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

Can. 1185 Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

 

[SmallCcatholic]

What is an apostate, the same as someone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit ? Can you explain that about cremation I know a very godly woman who was just cremated, I have no doubt she is with the Lord. She was a bold witness for Jesus.

 

[Trishie]

Yes if they repent and seek absolution from the appropriate priestly authority.
There are degrees of punishment as is evident by a full reading of the following

Catholic Encyclopedia, excommunication
Excerpt
newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm
Absolution from excommunication

Apart from the rare cases in which excommunication is imposed for a fixed period and then ceases of itself, it is always removed by absolution. It is to be noted at once that, though the same word is used to designate the sacramental sentence by which sins are remitted and that by which excommunication is removed, there is a vast difference between the two acts. The absolution which revokes excommunication is purely jurisdictional and has nothing sacramental about it. It reinstates the repentant sinner in the Church; restores the rights of which he had been deprived, beginning with participation in the sacraments; and for this very reason, it should precede sacramental absolution, which it thenceforth renders possible and efficacious. After absolution from excommunication has been given in foro externo, the judge sends the person absolved to a confessor, that his sin may be remitted; when absolution from censure is given in the confessional, it should always precede sacramental absolution, conformably to the instruction in the Ritual and the very tenor of the formula for sacramental absolution…"

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

1463 Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them. In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication."

Code of Canon Law
Can. 1364 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 194, §1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication; in addition, a cleric can be punished with the penalties mentioned in ⇒ can. 1336, §1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.

Canon. 1324: “Heresy consists in a pertinacious denial of truths which have been defined and proposed by the Church as divinely revealed doctrines.” c. 1325.2: "Any baptized person… who pertinaciously denies or doubts any of the truths proposed for belief by divine and Catholic faith, is a heretic. …if he rejects the authority of the Supreme Pontiff or refuses communion with the members of the Church who are subject to him, he is a schismatic."Can. 1364 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 194, §1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication; in addition, a cleric can be punished with the penalties mentioned in ⇒ can. 1336, §1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.

Any priest, even one suspended or excommunicated, may validly absolve a person of all sins, including an excommunication, when such a person is in danger of death and no other priest can be obtained.

Book VI Sanctions in the Church Part I OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS
IN GENERAL
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4U.HTM

 

[Jaypeeto4]

Anyone can repent if God grants them enough grace to do so.
And apostasy is an extremely grave sin, but the merits of Christ, Mary and the Saints
can obtain the repentance even of a notorious apostate.
But don’t presume on God’s mercy by deliberately apostasizing.
He may grant you the grace of full repentance,
on the other hand, knowing the true condition of your HEART, he may not.
Pray for the grace to NEVER apostasize from the Catholic Faith
or from Christ Himself.
Love,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[thistle]

What is an apostate, the same as someone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit ? Can you explain that about cremation I know a very godly woman who was just cremated, I have no doubt she is with the Lord. She was a bold witness for Jesus.

I’m not clear if your question on apostasy is related to your question about cremation.

Apostasy is total rejection of Christianity. Anyone dying unrepentant condemns themselves to Hell.

Cremation is allowed by the Catholic Church.

CCC 2301 Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious.
The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

 

[EricFilmer]

A Little Bit More about Absolution from Apostasy
Apostates are allowed to come back to the Catholic Church. Because it involves latae sententiae excommunication (see Trishie’s material in Post #5), the method for re-admittance into the Church is normally handled within the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The ordinary minister involved is a bishop, but many bishops have given this faculty to their priests.

In the context of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the person confesses the sin of apostasy, receives a penance, and recites the Act of Contrition. The confessor then says the Absolution from Censure which, in this cases, goes like this: “By the power granted to me, I absolve you from the bond of excommunication in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. The penitent responds, “Amen” and the priest then goes on to give the standard prayer of absolution. My source for this is The Rites of the Catholic Church, Vol. 1.

A Little Bit More about the Catholic Stance on Cremation
In terms of cremation, it is not forbidden by the Catholic Church unless the reasons for desiring cremation are contrary to the Catholic Faith. For example, in the past many people (mostly non-Catholics) desired to be cremated as a sign of their denial of the teaching on the resurrection of the body (and this sort of mentality may still exist today here and there). A baptized Catholic who persistently embraces such an attitudes would, of course, be in a state of heresy.

But aside from something like this, there is no problem with cremation. As a matter-of-fact, recently an appendix was added to the Catholic Book Company’s version of The Order of Christian Burial to provide prayers to say when the ashes are present at a Catholic funeral. For example, click on this Amazon link and you will see that the cover of this book is entitled, “Order of Christian Burial, with Cremation Rite”.

Here is a brief timeline explanation of the Catholic Church’s position on cremation, and what the current policy is regarding the presence of ashes at a funeral, and what should be done with the ashes afterwards: Roman Catholic Protocol for Cremation

 

[puzzleannie]

I just got
Can these apostates be welcome back into the Church through confession or intercession of a Bishop or the Pope if they truly believe they were wrong?

certainly in fact the focus of all the measures taken, such as excommunication, is directed toward their reconciliation with the Church. This topic was hotly debated in the early Church and decided in Church councils, The answer is yes an apostate who repents and confesses can come back into full communion with the Church. RCIA actually provides a rite for this.

 

[AHapka]

What is an apostate, the same as someone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit ? Can you explain that about cremation I know a very godly woman who was just cremated, I have no doubt she is with the Lord. She was a bold witness for Jesus.

Some people chose to be cremated to “prove” that God could not resurrect the body because a cremated body was burned up and no longer exists. They said “a body no longer exists, so it is impossible for God to resurrect that person.”

Obviously those are people who do not believe that “nothing is impossible for God.”

Unless she chose cremation specifically to spurn the Lord or make it “impossible” for him to resurrect her body, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.