Excommunication and the Seal of Confession (Sanctions, Part VI)

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Cathy Caridi

Q: My question relates to the seal of the confessional because I am wondering if I broke it.  I know I acted imprudently, but whether or not I broke it is somewhat unclear to me….

I was hearing confessions and a person whose confession I had heard before made a confession.  I have also once or twice previously helped this person with spiritual things outside of the confessional.  They made their confession and then immediately after they finished their confession they asked me a question about something related to their spiritual life.  In the course of our conversation I started a sentence with “If you remember from a previous confession…..”  Obviously, that was deeply imprudent.

I then related some information that I had given them before within confession. The information that I related was not their sin itself so much as something directly related to the sin….  Part of what I said was something that they had revealed to me outside of a confession, but part of it was also known within the confessional only.  So does that constitute a violation of the seal? —Father C Continue reading →

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Limiting Diocesan Bishops’ Authority: Recent Decrees From Pope Francis

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Cathy Caridi

Q:  I would like to ask a question about diocesan bishops and episcopal authority, but I don’t know how to formulate it.  I hope you’ll bear patiently with me, there’s a confused jumble of ideas in my head!

These ideas mostly center around the many decrees (if that’s the right word) of Pope Francis regarding what bishops can and can’t do.  For example, they can’t allow the Old Mass in their dioceses without permission now; they can’t allow the establishment of new religious orders in their dioceses without permission now; they can object to Fiducia Supplicans, according to Cardinal Fernandez’s explanation, except that in another sentence he says they can’t because Pope Francis said so.  I am not a theologian … [but] to me this all seems random and inconsistent.  Excessively restrictive too, as if bishops are nothing but papal minions.

… Another idea I have floating in my brain concerns subsidiarity, and the 20th-century emphasis on allowing local parishes and dioceses to make many decisions for themselves, instead of mutely waiting for Rome to tell them how to do every single thing and even how to think….  For years we heard that centralized power in the Church was bad, in fact Pope John XXIII wanted to let the bishops at Vatican II tell him their opinions and what they wanted to do.  If “the spirit of the Council” is our Catholic “guiding light,” why does so much of what the Pope says and commands seem to restrict what bishops may want to do?

If I am confusing multiple separate issues in the asking of this “question” I would greatly appreciate your help in clarifying them….—Tamara Continue reading →

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Fiducia Supplicans and the Magisterium

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Cathy Caridi

Q:  When reading news about Fiducia Supplicans, and then reading the declaration itself, I was struck by this statement it contains about the Church’s Magisterium:

Such theological reflection, based on the pastoral vision of Pope Francis, implies a real development from what has been said about blessings in the Magisterium and the official texts of the Church.

I always thought that the “Magisterium” was the body of Catholic faith as it has always been taught by the Church, and it can’t be changed.  Can it really be “developed,” as the text claims?

At first, I assumed that this was a theological question and not a matter for canon law.  Then I began to realize that at least it seems like Pope Francis and Cardinal Fernández [the Prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith] may actually be violating the Magisterium by making a declaration contrary to it.  This sounds a lot like heresy….  That subsequently led me to read your post, “Can a Pope Commit Heresy?” which shows that canon law is possibly involved here.

… [T]he more I read and research and objectively try to understand what Fiducia Supplicans means, and what the Pope is doing by making this declaration, and what this implies for the Catholic Church, the more confused I get.  Is there a simpler way to make sense of this?  Can canon law help? —Paul Continue reading →

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When Christmas Falls on a Monday: Holydays of Obligation, Part III

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Cathy Caridi

Q:  If a solemnity is a precept [i.e., a holyday of obligation] in my country and it falls on a Saturday or a Monday, is going to just one Mass enough to fulfill the precept?

For example, if a festivity is a precept in my country and it falls on a Saturday, if I go to Mass on Saturday, after 4 pm, do I need to go to Mass again the next day, on Sunday, to fulfill the precept of the Church? Or if the festivity falls on a Monday, does going to Mass on Sunday, after 4 pm, exempt me from going to Mass the following day, on Monday?

I have read defenders of different positions on the subject … [and] most of the authors have doctorates in Canon Law or Moral Theology.  This question … is far from being a question any canonist could answer…. –Fábio Continue reading →

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Removing a Bishop From His Diocese: The Case of Bishop Strickland

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Cathy Caridi

Q: I don’t need to tell you, practically the whole Catholic world is looking at the removal of Bishop Strickland from [his diocese of] Tyler, [Texas,] and wondering what happened and why.  From the perspective of canon law, what did the Pope do procedurally?  Was it a valid action? … My Catholic friends and family are confused… —Mirella Continue reading →

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