Can a Cardinal be demoted to a conventional Bishop, and a Bishop to a Priest?

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Title says it all, I suppose.

I’ve never heard of this happening, and perhaps it can’t. I just don’t know.
 
No, especially not in the case of bishop —> priest. Those imposed Holy Orders are irreversible.
 
However, they can be defrocked in extreme cases, right? they can be non-practicing
 
But the Orders remain. The faculties are removed; they aren’t permitted to “practice” in a manner of speaking, but they remain ordained.
 
Holy Orders, along with baptism and confirmation gives a permanent mark (character) on the soul and as such they cannot be repeated. For Holy Orders, the three levels (deacon, priest, bishop) show various levels of fullness of the sacrament. An individual CANNOT be reordained to the level that they currently have (a deacon cannot be reordained a deacon). They can go up (deacon to priest to bishop). Once they receive a certain level they retain that level until they die. Even if they go into heresy or schism, they retain their level of ordination. No authority in the Church can remove their level of ordination. However, they can be defrocked as @Maximilian75 notes.

A cardinal is not a level of Holy Orders. A deacon, a priest, even a layman can be a cardinal. I do not know if a cardinal can have that removed or not. I would think that would be possible, since it is not a level of Holy Orders, but I am only speculating on that.

Blessings
 
fredystairs said:
Holy Orders, along with baptism and confirmation gives a permanent mark (character) on the soul and as such they cannot be repeated. For Holy Orders, the three levels (deacon, priest, bishop) show various levels of fullness of the sacrament. An individual CANNOT be reordained to the level that they currently have (a deacon cannot be reordained a deacon). They can go up (deacon to priest to bishop). Once they receive a certain level they retain that level until they die. Even if they go into heresy or schism, they retain their level of ordination. No authority in the Church can remove their level of ordination. However, they can be defrocked as @Maximilian75 notes.

A cardinal is not a level of Holy Orders. A deacon, a priest, even a layman can be a cardinal. I do not know if a cardinal can have that removed or not. I would think that would be possible, since it is not a level of Holy Orders, but I am only speculating on that.
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That seems very clear now that I think about it. Thanks for the clear response.

This would explain of course how heretical Bishops in the early years of Christianity remained Bishops, which should have occurred to me.
 
I know of a bishop of a very difficult diocese who asked to be released from serving that diocese, because it was too stressful. I don’t know where he went from there, though.
 
I would like to amend my answer. Apparently in 1962, Pope John XXIII made it that only bishops can become cardinals. I was thinking that I had remembered that a deacon had become a cardinal but that must have been centuries ago.

https://www.catholic.com/cardinal

I apologize for my error.

Blessings
 
Make a distinction between a person’s rank and dignity in the Church, and a particular job assignment.

A pastor or bishop-ordinary in a diocese can be removed, but only with just cause (Per canon law). Bishops normally are required to submit their resignation at 75, though it can be waived. Pastors’ maximum age varies according to diocese, though exceptions can be made. In any case,
he would remain a priest or bishop, unless he was reduced to lay status, which is very rare.

A cardinal who is archbishop of a diocese could remain until he was 75 if he wanted to. If Cardinal Burke had remained as ABP of St. Louis, he could stay there until 75. But a cardinal or bishop who takes a job in the Vatican serves at the pleasure of the pope, and can be removed at any time. In theory Cardinal Burke could be reappointed as an ordinary somewhere, but he has no “rights” to return to that position. It is not like civil service.

I don’t know, but I believe a cardinal could be removed from the college of cardinals, for extreme cause. It is not a sacrament, like priest or bishop. A
bishop or priest can have his faculties suspended by the pope. Of course, anyone can be excommunicated.

But even if a bishop or priest has their faculties suspended, that does not mean the Church does not recognize the effectiveness of their (disobedient) actions afterwards. Disobedience may be a sin, but their sin does not make their sacramental actions invalid.
 
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Theologian Avery Dulles was made Cardinal by John Paul II. More recently, Pope Francis has considered laymen and laywomen Cardinals.
 
Pretty random question most don’t know. Glad it’s not possible for sure.
 
commenter said:
In any case,

he would remain a priest or bishop, unless he was reduced to lay status, which is very rare
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Could you clarify this please? I think that they would remain a priest or bishop, even if they were not permitted to exercise any authority within the Church. Thanks.
 
There are no lay Cardinals. It was only mentioned as a theoretical possibility.
 
fredystairs said:
I would like to amend my answer. Apparently in 1962, Pope John XXIII made it that only bishops can become cardinals. I was thinking that I had remembered that a deacon had become a cardinal but that must have been centuries ago.

https://www.catholic.com/cardinal

I apologize for my error.

Blessings
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It is not that “only bishops can become Cardinals”

Instead: when a Cardinal is named, he becomes immediately eligible to be ordained a bishop (if not already), and he is expected (“must”) to be so ordained. However, if he requests, the Pope can dispense him from that obligation to be ordained a bishop. In practice (in modern times) we’ve only seen this dispensation for Cardinals named after their 80th birthdays, and therefore not eligible to vote in Conclave.

To be eligible for Cardinal, he must be a presbyter (or bishop already).

See Canon 351

Remember that the Pope can dispense from the law. So if he wants to name a deacon as a Cardinal, he can do it anytime he pleases, he simply includes the necessary dispensation.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
There are no lay Cardinals. It was only mentioned as a theoretical possibility.
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True. But there were lay Cardinals before the first World War (at the latest). That often had to do with certain kings being eligible to name electors for the pope.

In theory, any pope could name lay Cardinals.

That does lead to other problems, though.

It also leads to other issues (not necessarily unresolvable) such as the fact that Cardinals have universal faculties for Confessions. Several other areas of Church law/governance would have to change—which simply means a pope would change them.

Edit: apparently, there were no true “lay Cardinals” because they were all ordained to (at least) a minor order, ie they all had at least first tonsure. Take this with the usual caveats about wiki articles. Lay cardinal - Wikipedia
 
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