Recently, I was reading a discussion on Catholic politicians like Biden and Pelosi who support abortion, where people were disagreeing on whether they were already excommunicated by the Church. I felt the conversation was missing some key distinctions, so I compiled the following list of what I hope are clarifying questions and answers on the topic:
1. Are you automatically excommunicated for obstinate heresy or must your bishop excommunicate you?
According to canon 1364, you are automatically excommunicated for heresy. This applies without the need for any intervention on the part of your bishop. *However*, automatic excommunication is different from formal excommunication. Here's a quote from Canonist Dr. Peters on this distinction:
"Most consequences of excommunication become relevant in the external forum only if the excommunication is “imposed or declared”. That short, technical phrase means that, while one who is “automatically” excommunicated labors under the personal burdens of this sanction, it is only when an excommunication is “formal” that actions performed by canonical criminals raise questions for Church life and governance." (https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/26/automatic-censures-should-be-eliminated-from-church-law/)
Note that Peters is a passionate opponent of automatic censures in canon law and thinks that they should be abolished (and I think he's probably right), but nonetheless, he does not deny that they exist.
2. If you are automatically excommunicated due to obstinate heresy, shouldn't priests deny communion to all heretics?
No. As mentioned, "latae sententiae" excommunication does not carry with it "external forum" consequences. So, those conscious of heresy should not approach Holy Communion, but until the excommunication is made formal, priests don't have the right to presuppose such an excommunication. However, there are other reasons aside from a known excommunication for which a priest can or must deny Communion which could easily apply at the same time (see below).
3. Is denial of Church teaching on abortion heresy and thus grounds for automatic excommunication?
Yes, *I* think so, but it's very arguable. Some people have here confused the strict theological definition of heresy (which sometimes restricts "heresy" to those errors which are opposed to historically, formally, infallibly defined doctrines) with the canonical definition of heresy, which is the denial of doctrines which "must be believed by divine and Catholic faith". There has never been a formal definition of a doctrine on abortion by an infallible act of the extraordinary Magisterium, but not all doctrines which must be believed by divine and Catholic faith have such formal definitions. Others might disagree here, so I don't insist on this answer.
4. Supposing you're wrong about the heretical status of support for abortion. Is a politician nevertheless automatically excommunicated for supporting abortion politically?
No, I think just for heresy. *But* there are non-excommunication penalties that *will* apply to them automatically.
Here I think people are confused by Canon 915 which applies the penalty of exclusion from Communion to a range of people which includes those who are "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin." This *does* include politicians who support abortion through lawmaking, but is *not* an excommunication. Exclusion from Communion is also the most serious and evident penalty of an excommunication, but it is not excommunication itself. Meanwhile, Canon 1398 *does* apply automatic excommunication for those who *procure* an abortion (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P57.HTM), but this doesn't apply to those who campaign for its legality. (Well, I suppose you could make that argument, but I think it's weak.)
So the important distinction here is that a canonical exclusion from Holy Communion is not the same thing as excommunication, and different Canons govern when each of those things happen.
5. So maybe a politician won't be excommunicate for supporting abortion, but he will nevertheless be excluded from Holy Communion?
Yes, definitely.
6. Does exclusion from Holy Communion for politicians who support abortion happen automatically, or does a bishop have to institute a process?
It happens automatically, as specified in Canon 915. What is necessary is grave, manifest, public sin, and political support for abortion fulfills all of those conditions. There has been a lot of confusion on this topic, but it has been well clarified by the CDF here: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/worthiness-to-receive-holy-communion-general-principles-2153, for example. For much more information on this subject, Dr. Peters has an entire resource page devoted to Canon 915: http://www.canonlaw.info/canonlaw915.htm. So, yes, absolutely Biden should be excluded from Holy Communion and no further act of a bishop is necessary for this to happen. Again, though: not the same thing as an excommunication.
7. Since Biden has not been formally been charged with heresy or excommunicated, should we refrain from publicly calling him out as a "bad Catholic"?
This is my opinion, but I think definitely not. A large part of the point behind "latae sententiae" penalties (and especially exclusion from Holy Communion) for figures who publicly promote grave sin is to head off scandal. If public figures are allowed to flaunt Church teaching and yet (also publicly) receive Holy Communion, many people are going to wonder if the Church really teaches the doctrine that is being contradicted. By having this strict and automatic penalties in the Law, the Church is making a very strong statement: "hey, whoever does this is *not* living according to the mind of the Church". In other words, it's an ecclesiastical way of saying, "you can't be Catholic and pro-choice", without having to go through the whole legal trial process every time for every famous pro-choice Catholic.
From that perspective, Catholics calling out duplicitous politicians like Biden on this issue seem to me to be fulfulling exactly the intention of the law.
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