From Religious to Bishop/Cardinal

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choliks

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If a religious becomes a bishop or a cardinal, is he still considered an equal among his brothers in the order?
 
I am interested in this answer too. The bishop of my diocese was a Holy Cross priest before becoming bishop.
 
And a follow question would be… Can an unordained religious become a bishop?
 
choliks said:
If a religious becomes a bishop or a cardinal, is he still considered an equal among his brothers in the order?
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It depends by what you mean by “equal”. Canons 705-707 cover a religious becoming a bishop in the Latin Church.

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2D.HTM

In addition, the bishops do not have an active or passive vote in their order.

On other issues of, for example, communal living, with a retired bishop, it depends on the customs of the order - except for those things covered under the canons above. The other area is the sacred liturgy, where typically, any bishop if present and celebrating must preside, and cannot simply concelebrate with other priests * (although this rule is honored more in the breach than the observance in seminaries and religious houses).
  • Exceptions can be made for priests who have some sort of jurisdiction or authority e.g. abbots in the monasteries, etc.
 
choliks said:
And a follow question would be… Can an unordained religious become a bishop?
Click to expand...
As said, the answer could be yes but today it is highly doubtful.

If a non-ordained religious were tapped to be a bishop, he would need to be ordained to the diaconate, then the priesthood, then the episcopacy.

So technically speaking, no, only a priest may become a bishop.
 
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