Can someone really be automatically excommunicated and not know?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ChibiViolet
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

ChibiViolet

Guest
I have read recently that someone could potentially be automatically excommunicated and not know about it. I find this to be strange and want to know if it it is really true especially since if it is true than I have to make a rather significant change to a book I’ve been writing and don’t know how I would go about it aside from making the protagonist two years younger and I really don’t want to do that. I would especially like answers from priests.
 
UpUpAndAway said:
In case you haven’t seen it: A similar question was very recently raised in “Ask an Apologist,” and it was answered by a priest. Perhaps you’ll find what you’re looking for there. 🙂

How do automatic excommunications work?
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I read and this last paragraph, I’ve just realized, might be saying something different than I thought it did. What does “knowledge that their actions were a violation of Church law” mean in this instance? Does it mean that the person committing the act has to only know that it is a sin, or mortal sin, or does it mean that they would have to know that they would be excommunicated if they did it in order for the penalty to take effect?

The odds that someone could be automatically excommunicated and not know it is extremely unlikely. In order to be under the penalty the individual needs to have known at the time of their actions that their actions were a violation of Church law and have committed the actions intentionally with malice (canon 1321), thus someone who is unsure most likely is not under the penalty. Considering how few actions would lead a layperson to incur automatic excommunication and of those few actions how serious they are, it is doubtful that someone would unknowingly be under the penalty. And, once again, given the seriousness of the actions an individual in good faith would have confessed the sin in confession and the priest would have advised them accordingly.
 
In case anyone is confused, I meant to put quotation marks around that last paragraph.
 
I’ve been told you need to know that there is a legal penalty of automatic excommunication for that offense in order to have that particular penalty inflicted without tempering or substituting a lesser penalty. But the teller could of course have been incorrect. I suggest you read canon 1324
9/ by a person who without negligence did not know that a penalty was attached to a law or precept;

How old is your protagonist? A minor? If so, also read section 4.

Here is an example I could search out that seemed to be thinking of canons 1323 and 1324. Here is the key snippet:
Also, for a person to be automatically excommunicated, he must know that the penalty exists and will be imposed for a particular offense, and then choose to perform the action with full knowledge and freedom.
 
Pug said:
I’ve been told you need to know that there is a legal penalty of automatic excommunication for that offense in order to have that particular penalty inflicted without tempering or substituting a lesser penalty. But the teller could of course have been incorrect. I suggest you read canon 1324
9/ by a person who without negligence did not know that a penalty was attached to a law or precept;

How old is your protagonist? A minor? If so, also read section 4.

Here is an example I could search out that seemed to be thinking of canons 1323 and 1324. Here is the key snippet:
Also, for a person to be automatically excommunicated, he must know that the penalty exists and will be imposed for a particular offense, and then choose to perform the action with full knowledge and freedom.
Click to expand...
Thank you.🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top