Excommunication of the mafia//not a scrupulous post

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So I think in 2014 the Pope said the mafia had automatically excommunicated themselves because of their actions, but i after looking at lists of automatically excommunicable offences I can’t find murder or cocaine dealing and stuff, I’m not trying to defend anyone here but I wanted to know what made the Pope make this decision if any of you guys knew
 
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You need to keep in mind the context. In Italy sometimes mafia men do all kind of awful things and they still publicly want to be considered pious. They enjoy having places of honors during religious festivals, lavish Catholic funerals, close relationship with Church hierarchy etc. The Pope wanted to publicly call off these hypocritical behaviors and basically delegitimate their power over the population (if you see a mobster praised by your local priest as a good man you may really get wrong ideas about what Catholicism is about.) That said there is a part of the Church that was always very active against mafia, mostly priests close to people in poor areas. If you are interested I would recommend you to read about Don Pino Puglisi, a priest murdered by mafia and now Blessed.
 
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Thanks for the reply, So does the Pope think it’s bad they want to be considered pious and have nice Catholic funerals and stuff?
 
Yes it is very bad. Imagine if you are somebody that have seen a relative killed by the mafia and after that you see the guys that ordered the murder (and never repented) being pointed out as example of pious Catholics…
 
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It did at the start because like I thought it’s good to Be pious but now I see it could damage the Church’ reputation
 
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michael-kaw said:
I think in 2014 the Pope said the mafia had automatically excommunicated themselves because of their actions, but i after looking at lists of automatically excommunicable offences I can’t find murder or cocaine dealing and stuff, I’m not trying to defend anyone here but I wanted to know what made the Pope make this decision
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The pope wasn’t speaking in a legal or judicial context so he didn’t really make a “decision” as if he actually applied excommunication to particular individuals. It was an exhortative statement rather than a juridical one.

Dan
 
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I know!

In order to be an actual “mafioso” you need to take an oath that is contrary to the teachings of God.

You can’t be in communion with the Church if you take an oath against Her teachings.

It’s basically joining a different faith system that’s based on violence and evil.

As for the other sins, if a person commits a sin of grave matter knowingly and willingly, then it’s a mortal sin. They can’t receive communion. But they can go up confession.

A “mafioso” needs to have his excommunication removed by a bishop before attempting to receive confession and communion.
 
michael-kaw said:
I thought it’s good to Be pious but now I see it could damage the Church’ reputation
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It’s not about the Church’s reputation, but rather about pointing out hypocrisy; committing all kinds of premeditated evil and then going to church as if they are innocent of their crimes using religion as a superstition. Jesus condemned the outwardly pious hypocrites in the gospels in order to make one change and turn to the light.

Excommunication is about admonishing someone into making things right in order to come back to the Church.

“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”- 1 John 1:6-10
 
“He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” - Mark 7:6

“If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.” - Galatians 6:3

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?“ - Luke 6:46
 
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