Question 74. Under what circumstances can someone be excommunicated from the Catholic Church and what must be done to be reinstated?

Answer: Excommunication is the ultimate ecclesiastical penalty, in which the offender is expelled from the Church. (The term itself signifies that the individual thus punished is no longer "in communion" with the Catholic Church.) Someone who has been excommunicated no longer has the right to the sacraments of the Church, and is not considered a Catholic unless or until the excommunication is lifted.

Once a person has been excommunicated, only the pope, a bishop, or a priest who has been given specific authorization can grant absolution and reinstate him or her into the Catho1ic communion. (If the person is in danger of death any priest can grant absolution.)

Excommunication can take two different forms. A ferendae sententiae excommunication comes after a formal canonical trial, and is often a matter of public record. A latae sententiae excommunication is incurred automatically, under the terms of the Code of Canon Law, as the punishment for certain offenses. In the case of a latae sententiae excommunication, there is no requirement for formal trial or announcement; in fact, the individual brings the punishment upon himself.

An excommunication can be lifted when the individual admits and makes appropriate efforts to atone for it. In many cases the excommunication can be lifted by a priest through sacramental Confession, although in some cases other conditions must be fulfilled.

When the code of Canon law was revised in 1983, the number of sins for which a person would automatically be excommunicated was significantly reduced. Today, automatic or latae sententiae excommunications are imposed (without the intervention of a judge or Superior) on the following people:

·         apostates (those who openly reject the faith of the Church as a whole)

·         heretics (those "who openly reject the truth of one or more dogmatic statements)

·         schismatics (those who refuse to respect the authority of the pope)

·         a person who uses physical force against the pope.

·         a person who throws away the consecrated species or uses them for sacrilegious purposes

·         a priest who absolves an accomplice

·         a bishop who consecrates someone bishop and the person who receives consecration without a Pontifical mandate

·         a confessor who directly violates the seal of confession

·         a person who procures a successful abortion.