I
InThePew
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Not sure if this is what you’re after (it’s all Greek to me…)
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There [I think] is a Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Auckland. They use the Byzantine Rite.The nearest Byzantine church would be in Australia.
I do not believe I am qualified to answer for the Holy Father.Then why did Pope Francis allow their Priests to licitly hear confessions??
Excommunication is a judicial punishment. And Canon law is most certainly not divine law, which would include the 1917 Code that didn’t say it was an excommunicatable offense. You would then have to also admit that not excommunicating could also be in error.My point was not that the 1917 code was in force, but that the difference between the two points out that the idea of excommunication being automatic for ordaining a Bishop, clearly isn’t a part of the Divine Law. Thus, it must be human law, and therefore in principle can be in error.
What people did centuries ago cannot be applied to this. The current Code is the current Code, and the Pope is the one who can change it as he likes. If the Pope wants to make the punishment for illicitly consecrating bishops be excommunication, he may certainly do so.This becomes abundantly clear when we realize that for hundreds of years, bishops were licitly ordained without the permission or even Knowledge of the Pope
The problem with Lefebvre wasn’t so much that he ordained bishops (plural) without the Pope’s permission but rather that he deliberately went ahead with it after having been told not to and being warned that the actions would be result in his excommunication (and theirs). The Church takes the illicit ordination of bishops seriously because it jeopardises the unity of the Church by placing a wedge between the local and universal. It centuries past, and arguably even during the cold war, illicit ordinations may have been necessitated by circumstances - there being no way of safely or effectively communicating with Rome. Lefebvre adopted much the same reasoning in support of his own actions - that it was necessitated by the circumstances. However, this wasn’t a situation where communication was impeded - quite the opposite - and the “emergency” existed only subjectively. The obvious problem with Lefebvre’s reasoning is that it could be used by almost any other bishop to justify similar actions in defiance of Rome and threatening the very nature of the universal Church.the difference between the two points out that the idea of excommunication being automatic for ordaining a Bishop, clearly isn’t a part of the Divine Law. Thus, it must be human law, and therefore in principle can be in error. This becomes abundantly clear when we realize that for hundreds of years, bishops were licitly ordained without the permission or even Knowledge of the Pope
Very funny! I wouldn’t stay in Auckland the whole time though! I am sure you can cope with an Ordinary Form Mass when on holiday!I know you were not talking to me, but I am glad you made me aware of this. I now know where to go when I vacation to NZ.
No it doesn’t it simply shows that there’s since ben a warming in relationships to the point where continuation of the sanction (whcih was intended, like all eclesial penalties, to be medicinal) was no longer necessary. That does not mean that it’s original imposition was unsound. Consecration of bishops without an apostolic mandate incurs a latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication both for the one who consecrates and those are are consecrated. So strictly speaking a warning wasn’t necessary although it was given in this case and shows Lefebvre knew full well what he was doing was illicit but went ahead and did it anyway and thus incurred the penalty set out in Canon Law. There has never been any question that the penalty what properly imposed (do the crime do the time after all) but its lifting by BXVI (as was his right) was intended as a gift of peace towards SSPX in order to invite the four Bishops to return - as Benedict himself said.However, since the excommunications were later lifted and never reimposed, though the SSPX hasn’t changed its stance, it shows that the Vatican considers the decision to excommunicate was unsound.
I’m no fan of the SSPX, but what you write here is not technically true.No, they’re not. They are practically in schism, they disobey the Pope, and their Priests celebrated the Mass, whilst validly, illicitly and without and against the Church’s permission.
Just as an FYI - the excommunications were not the sole reason for the split between FSSP and SSPX. From what I understand, it’s was actually the last straw and might have happened anyway.The SSPX or sometimes seen as the FSSPX is the religious order that the FSSP seperated from. At the time a small handful of their leaders were automatically excommunicated according to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Whether the excommunications happened or not is disputed, but that’s what caused the separation.