Automatic excommunication (Canon law)

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DavidCro

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How does automatic excommunication work? Is it effective at the same moment when the offense that entails it is committed? For example, in the case of abortion, a woman is excommunicated at the moment she aborted the baby and no special declaration of excommunication is necessary by a bishop or pope? The reason why I ask is the Can. 2334 of the Code of the Cannon Law of 1917.

It states:

"Excommunicatione latae sententiae speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservata plectuntur:
  1. Qui leges, mandata, vel decreta contra libertatem aut iura Ecclesiae edunt;
  2. Qui impediunt directe vel indirecte exercitium iurisdictionis ecclesiasticae sive interni sive externi fori, ad hoc recurrentes ad quamlibet laicalem potestatem."
To explain the context now. The government of the Independent State of Croatia issued a letter No. 5974-B-1942 (signed by Minister Mirko Puk). It stated:

"Subject: Mostar - the appointment of bishop.

To all vicars of the Diocese of Mostar. These days, dr. Petar Čule was appointed Bishop of Mostar, without asking or consulting and even without knowledge of the Croatian State Government. The Croatian State Government cannot acknowledge such an appointment on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia, and accordingly it will take its position to defend the state headship in all relations pro foro civili. This puts you in a good knowledge of this and for your guidance accordingly."

However, only after Minister was informed by Archbishop Stepinac that they will be publicly excommunicated, did they back up. The question is, was Stepinac’s public excommunication necessary, or they were excommunicated at the moment of issuing the letter?

Thanks.
 
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Thank you for your answer. I mentioned the Code of 1917 because the reason why I am asking occurred in 1942. It’s not abortion. The abortion was just an example used by me. The question is, was the Croatian State Government, a puppet government of Nazi Germany, automatically excommunicated?
 
I think he means “the excommunication threatened by the Archbishop”, not “the excommunication of the Archbishop”…
 
He threatened the Government that he will excommunicate them, he himself was not excommunicated.
 
Sorry, no. I’m asking about the members of the government of the Independent State of Croatia who issued a legal decree openly calling for disobedience towards the appointed Bishop of Mostar. These events occurred far before Archbishop’s trial. They occurred during the World War II in 1942. Sorry for wasting your time… Thank you very much for your effort. I’ll just settle with this as it is.
 
DavidCro said:
However, only after Minister was informed by Archbishop Stepinac that they will be publicly excommunicated, did they back up. The question is, was Stepinac’s public excommunication necessary, or they were excommunicated at the moment of issuing the letter?
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Based on how you describe the sequence of events, I’d understand this to mean that the secular government did not actually violate c. 2334, they merely made statements. No laws were passed and no exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was actually impeded. The archbishop’s warning, in this case, would be like saying “If you actually do what you seem to be saying you intend to do, then you will be excommunicated.”

The archbishop’s statement was not an act of excommunication but more of a warning. That’s how it seems to me.

Dan
 
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