If a layman was consecrated a bishop, but he was not yet a priest, would he be a valid bishop? Would he be able to perform confirmations and confer Holy Orders?
Wouldn’t happen, at least nowadays.Hello.
God bless you for answering my question.
It was done in the Middle Ages. Pope Innocent was consecrated a bishop before he became a priest. It wasn’t until a month into his Papacy that he was ordained a priest. My question is: Was he a valid bishop? Could he confer confirmation and Holy Orders before he was ordained a priest?
One cannot be a bishop without first being a priest. Which Pope Innocent are you talking about?It was done in the Middle Ages. Pope Innocent was consecrated a bishop before he became a priest. It wasn’t until a month into his Papacy that he was ordained a priest. My question is: Was he a valid bishop? Could he confer confirmation and Holy Orders before he was ordained a priest?
NO!, God Bless, MemawHello.
God bless you for answering my question.
Pope Innocent III
My bad. I meant Pope Celestine III, Innocent’s predecessor. He wasn’t ordained a priest until a month after he started his Papacy.
Partially true. Any baptized Catholic male is eligible for the Papacy, but if a layman is selected, he will then have to go through Holy Orders to become a priest, then a bishop, and then given the Papal position in the fullest capacity.
It seems to me, that since a pope elected who is not ordained, is ordained as soon as feasible indicates the necessity of ordination for valid sacraments. Do you know of a pope or bishop who performed sacraments prior to ordination?
Right. He would be ordained a priest before being consecrated a Bishop.
Hello.
God bless you for answering my question.
It may not have been documented, but one would have been ordained a priest before becoming a bishop. It a layperson were to become a bishop right away, then it would have likely been in the same ceremony that he is ordained a priest before being consecrated a bishop. And if it was in the same ceremony, they might have likely just documented that the layperson became a bishop since that would have been the result of the ceremony.
You didn’t ask what happened back in the middle ages , you asked “what if…” (as in, what if Pope Francis was to do so…)It was done in the Middle Ages. Pope Innocent was consecrated a bishop before he became a priest. It wasn’t until a month into his Papacy that he was ordained a priest. My question is: Was he a valid bishop? Could he confer confirmation and Holy Orders before he was ordained a priest?
You seem to be confusing two different things here. He was elected pope before being ordained a priest. That does not mean he was made a bishop before being made a priest.
Yes, thank you Joe, I was about to post the same thing, election as a Bishop is not the same thing as being ordained a Bishop. For example St. Ambrose was elected Bishop of Milan while he was still a layman, but he was ordained with all the Holy Ordes before being ordained Bishop. And as someone else pointed out this wouldn’t happen anymore under the current Canon law.