(It seems my post is too long so I will split it into two parts)
PART 1 -
APOSTOLIC LETTER
“ECCLESIA DEI”
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
GIVEN MOTU PROPRIO
While I don’t claim to have studied Canon law, I do understand that the source of the excommunications was the act of consecrating bishops without a papal mandate, something explained to the archbishop, yet he proceeded anyway. Pope Pius XII called such actions “gravely illicit…criminal and sacrilegious.” Now, could it be that three popes are mistaken, but you are correct???
In a previous post you stated:
"This defense was tried and rejected by the Holy See."
I asked you the following in response:
"If you can provide the document from the Holy See in which his defence (including the above mentioned) was tried and rejected as you claim, then I would very much like to see it."
I assume that your quotation of these portions of
Ecclesia Dei are posted in reply?
If so, then my original question remains, for neither these portions of
Ecclesia Dei nor the whole document in any way
try and reject this defense. No documment or statement from the Vatican even attempts a trial or rebuttal to these legitimate arguments and appeals to Canon Law.
You say:
"I do understand that the source of the excommunications was the act of consecrating bishops without a papal mandate"
I do not want to repeat myself, but I have explained this argument before. We are talking about
canon 1382. This Canon states that:
“Both the Bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, consecrates a person a Bishop, and the one who receives the consecration from him, incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.” On this canon we both agree. Normally, this canon applies in the situation described, however as I have explained before Canon Law itself places clauses on this law:
Canon 1323 §4.
Canon 1323 -
" The following are not subject to a penalty when they have violated a law or precept:
… S4; a person who acted coerced by grave fear, even if only relatively grave, or due to necessity or grave inconvenience unless the act is intrinsically evil or tends to the harm of souls;
Thus, in rebuttal to
canon 1382 the Archbishop and canon lawyers in question put foward
Canon 1323 §4, which as you can see means that the canon is applied invalidly and the person is ***not subject to a penalty ***. Therefore the penalty was not incurred by the Archbishop. The Vatican has never attempted to rebut this argument. If anyone can provide a document showing the contrary I would genuinely like very much to see it.
You also state in relation to this:
"the act of consecrating bishops without a papal mandate, something explained to the archbishop, yet he proceeded anyway"
Firstly the above mentioned canon (
Canon 1323 §4) makes the application of
canon 1382 null in this case. Therefore the
"without Papal mandate" part is nullified as it is contained within
canon 1382. Secondly, with regards to the
“something explained to the archbishop, yet he proceeded anyway” - it is irrelevant to this case as
canon 1382 means that
“Both the Bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, consecrates a person a Bishop, and the one who receives the consecration from him, incur a latae sententiae excommunication” not distinguishing from a person/persons who are without a pontifical mandate either negatively (not obtaining permission) or positively (permission refused). Thus, in either case
canon 1382 would apply under normal circumstances (of course being nullified by
Canon 1323 where it would apply).
This should be clear. From here we move on to whether there was actually a case of necessity -
Canon 1323. The state of necessity is generally described as a state in which "
the necessary goods for natural or supernatural life are so threatened that one is morally compelled to break the law in order to save them."As I explained the last time, if someone
inculpably i.e. through no fault of his own, thought there was a case of necessity he would not incur the penalty according to
canon 1323 -70. The Archbishop maintained that he thought his act was necessary (which I also believe was the case). However, I know of course that others will and do argue the contary.
In reply to this we must look at the other relevant canons. Canon law states that even if the person
culpably thought there was necessity he would still not incur the penalty -
canon 1324 §3 §1 80. Therefore, whether one agrees or not that the Archbishop culpably or inculpable thought there was a state of necessity the fact remains that the above mentioned canon means that he was not subject to the penalty as per
canon 1323 S4.