Text 3775, 102 rader
Skriven 2004-10-19 13:07:40 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: Kerry Excommunicated by Rome!
=====================================
Just picked up this breaking story.  


/*Kerry said to be excommunicated*/

Los Angeles, Oct. 18 (CWNews.com) - A consultant to the Vatican has said
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has incurred the penalty of
excommunication from the Catholic Church.

The consultant made his statement in a highly unusual letter to Marc
Balestrieri, a Los Angeles canon lawyer who formally sued John Kerry in
ecclesiastical court for heresy.

Balestrieri, who launched his case earlier this year by filing a heresy
complaint in Kerry's home archdiocese of Boston, told EWTN's "World Over"
program on Friday that he had received an unusual, indirect communication from
the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the
pro-abortion stance.

That communication provides a basis, he said, to declare that any Catholic
politician who says he is "personally opposed to abortion, but supports a
woman's right to choose," incurs automatic excommunication. It also provided a
basis for Balestrieri to broaden his canonical actions and file additional
complaints against four more pro-abortion Catholic politicians: Democrat
Senators Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Tom Harkin of Iowa; Republican
Senator Susan Collins of Maine; and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, a
Democrat.

The current action could be significant as it could undercut the entire debate
over denying Communion to pro-abortion politicians. An excommunicated Catholic
may not receive any of the sacraments of the Church, including the Eucharist,
marriage, and even Christian burial. The type of excommunication outlined in
the new information is called /latae sententiae/, which means that it occurs
automatically and does not require a formal pronouncement by any Church
official.

Balestrieri said he went to Rome in late August to discuss his canonical case
with experts, including an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith. Less than 10 days later, he received a letter from Father Basil Cole, a
Dominican theologian and consultant to the congregation based in Washington,
DC, who said he had been "delegated" by Father Augustine DiNoia, undersecretary
of the congregation, to give an unofficial response to the question that
Balestrieri had submitted.

"I went to Rome in person to submit two critical questions to the Congregation
for the Doctrine of Faith," said Balestrieri. "The first: Whether or not the
Church's teaching condemning /any direct abortion/ is a dogma of Divine and
Catholic Faith, and if the denial and doubt of the same constitutes heresy. The
second: Whether or not a denial of the Church's teaching condemning /every
right/ to abortion also constitutes heresy. Father Cole, an expert theologian
who studied the matter carefully, responded in the affirmative on both counts."

Father Cole wrote, "If a Catholic publicly and obstinately supports the civil
right to abortion, knowing that the Church teaches officially against that
legislation, he or she commits that heresy envisioned by Can. 751 of the Code
[of Canon Law]. Provided that the presumptions of knowledge of the law and
penalty and imputability are not rebutted in the external forum, one is
automatically excommunicated ...."

Balestrieri said the response was unusual in several respects: that a response
was provided to a layman at the request of the undersecretary in only 11 days,
that the response was in writing, decisively clarifying the matter, and that it
was in far greater detail than a typical official reply. "Normally, only a
bishop may request such clarification of doctrine from the CDF, such responses
usually take a much longer time to be received, and they are rarely made
public," he said.

He also said that the original canonical complaint of heresy against Kerry had
received so much response from the public that the tribunal of the Archdiocese
of Boston has been deluged with thousands of letters from ordinary Catholics
who wish to add their names to the complaint. The head of the archdiocesan
tribunal reportedly told him that the case had not been rejected and was "now
in the hands of the archbishop," that is, Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston.

Balestrieri, a self-identified political independent, says that his actions
come as a defender of the faith and Holy Eucharist from sacrilege and scandal,
not as one focused on an electoral outcome. "Our victory can come as early as
today: It would be for Sen. Kerry, who publicly calls himself a Catholic and
yet in violation of Canon Law continues to receive Holy Communion, to repent of
his grave sin and publicly recant his abortion advocacy."

The complete text of Father Cole's response as well as other details of the
pending cases are available on the DeFide.com <http://www.defide.com> web site.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glossary Terms: Ordinary <http://www.cwnews.com/news/biosgloss/definition.cfm?
glossID=27>, canon law <http://www.cwnews.com/news/biosgloss/definition.cfm?gl
ossID=28>, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
<http://www.cwnews.com/news/biosgloss/definition.cfm?glossID=32>,
excommunication <http://www.cwnews.com/news/biosgloss/definition.cfm?glossID=9
1>




John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
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 * Origin:  (1:379/1.99)