On 2 July, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Víctor Fernández, issued a decree and an accompanying explanatory note on the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX). InfoVaticana.com notes the two documents carry very different legal weight.
The decree declares that the six bishops directly involved in the 1 July illicit episcopal consecrations have incurred latae sententiae excommunication.
Canon law permits only a declaratory decree or judicial sentence to declare such penalties, limiting the decree's legal effect to those six bishops.
The explanatory note goes further, stating that FSSPX priests are in schism, and that lay faithful who formally adhere to the schism incur excommunication.
However, the note has no penal force because it is neither a law, a penal precept, nor a declaratory decree or judicial sentence, but simply a doctrinal explanation.
Furthermore, latae sententiae excommunication requires an individual assessment of culpability and cannot be applied through a blanket declaration.
According to 1996 Vatican guidance, merely attending FSSPX Masses does not constitute formal adherence to schism.
#newsUklgnfokls