An unusual letter from the consultor to a Vatican agency rules that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights have already excommunicated themselves by their actions – a message that suggests Sen. John Kerry is no longer a member of the church.
The Rev. Basil Cole, a Dominican theologian and consultor to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote the letter to Marc Balestrieri, a Los Angeles lawyer of canonical law, the attorney told a host on the Catholic television network EWTN Friday.
According to a report in Catholic World News, Balestrieri has previously sued John Kerry in ecclesiastical court for heresy.
The attorney says the communication from Cole provides a basis 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.
Catholic World News reported the letter potentially undercuts the entire debate over denying Communion to politicians who support abortion. An excommunicated Catholic may not receive any of the sacraments of the church, including the Eucharist, marriage and even Christian burial. According to the news service, 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 says 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 said, he received a letter from Cole, who is based in Washington, D.C. In his letter, Cole says he had been delegated by the Rev. Augustine DiNoia, undersecretary of the congregation, to respond to Balestrieri’s questions.
“I went to Rome in person to submit two critical questions to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith,” Balestrieri is quoted as saying. “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.”
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 letter was unusual for several reasons, one being the fact he is a layman.
“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.
Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World News, was perplexed by the letter.
He posted on the service’s website: “A ranking official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asks an American theologian – who is himself a consultor to CDF – to answer a question from a layman. And in his answer, that priest – who certainly seems to be speaking on behalf of the Vatican – says: Yes, Kerry is excommunicated!
“Now that’s a bombshell statement. But it was handled like an arcane scholarly query. (‘Yes, the Monophysite heresy was condemned by the 2nd Council of Constantinople. Thanks for asking. And by the way, the “Catholic” candidate for the world’s most powerful political office is excommunicated.’) Why?
“Could it be that the CDF sent this message unofficially, because it was clear no official pronouncement would survive the vetting of the Vatican bureaucracy?”
Balestrieri says he will use the letter to file additional complaints against other Catholic politicians: Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Cole’s letter is posted on the website defide.com.
