B.—Excommunications Specially Reserved to the Holy See

Canon 2314 I, Omnes a Christiana fide apostatae et omnes et singuli haeretici aut schismatici incurrunt ipso facto excommunicationem; nisi moniti resipuerint priventur beneficio, etc. (All apostates from the Christian faith, and each and every heretic or schismatic, incur excommunication ipso facto; if, after being warned, they do not repent, they are to be deprived of any benefice, and so forth.)

The absolution from the above excommunication to be given in the forum of conscience is specially reserved to the Holy See. If, however, the crime of apostasy, heresy, or schism has been brought before the external tribunal of the local Ordinary in any way, even by voluntary confession, the same Ordinary, but not the Vicar-General without a special mandate, can absolve the penitent by his ordinary authority in the external forum, when abjuration has previously been made, according to law and other conditions to be complied with have been fulfilled; but one so absolved can afterwards be absolved from his sin in the forum of conscience by any confessor. But the abjuration is held to have been lawfully made when it is made before the local Ordinary or his delegate and two witnesses at least (Can. 2314, sec. 2).

Canon 1325, sec, 2, defines the terms used in this censure, "If anyone, after having received baptism, while retaining the name of Christian pertinaciously denies of any the doctrines which are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith or doubts about it, he is a heretic; if he wholly abandons the Christian faith, he is an apostate; finally, if he refuses to be subject to the Roman Pontiff or to communicate with the members of the Church subject to him, he is a schismatic." Canon 2318 II. In excommunicationem Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatam ipso facto incurrunt, opere publici juris facto, editores librorum apostatarum, haereticorum et schismaticorum, qui apostasiam, haeresim, schisma propugnant, itemque eosdem libros aliosve per apostolicas litteras nominatim prohibitos defendentes aut scienter sine debita licentia legentes vel retinentes, Editores. (There incur ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner, once the work has been made public, the publishers of books by apostates, heretics and schismatics which defend apostasy, heresy or schism; and likewise those who defend such books, or others prohibited by name in apostolic letters, or who knowingly read or keep them without the required permission.)—The publishers of books defending apostasy, heresy, and schism, written by apostates, heretics, and schismatics, incur this censure when the book is published.

Defendentes——Also those who defend those same books or others prohibited by name by apostolic letters, such as Fénelon’s Explication des Maximes des Saints.

Legentes.—Those who read them without leave knowing that they are forbidden under censure.

Retinentes.—Retaining for any purpose whatever without leave. Canon 2322 III. Ad ordinem sacerdotalem non promotus si Missae celebrationem simulaverit aut sacramentalem confessionem exceperit, excommunicationem ipso facto contrahit, speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservatam; et insuper laicus quidem privetur pensione aut munere, si quod habeat in Ecclesia, aliisque poenis pro gravitate culpae puniatur; clericus vero deponatur. (One not promoted to the priestly order who simulates the celebration of Mass or hears a sacramental confession contracts ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner; and further, if a layman, let him be deprived of any pension or office he may hold in the Church, and punished with other penalties according to the gravity of his fault; but a cleric is to be deposed.)

Simulaverit—So that onlookers think he is saying Mass.

Confessionem—So that the penitent makes his confession with a view to absolution. Canon 2332 IV. Omnes et singuli cujuscumque status, gradus seu conditionis etiam regalis, episcopalis vel cardinalitiae fuerint, a legibus, decretis, mandatis Romani Pontificis pro tempore existentis ad Universale Concilium appellantes, sunt suspecti de haeresi et ipso facto contrahunt excommunicationem Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatam.

Appellantes—Physical persons who appeal from the Pope to an Oecumenical Council, not to a future Pope or to the reigning Pope better informed. Canon 2333 V. Recurrentes ad laicam potestatem ad impediendas litteras vel acta quaelibet a Sede Apostolica vel ab ejusdem Legatis profecta, eorumve promulgationem vel executionem directe vel indirecte prohibentes, aut eorum causa sive eos ad quos pertinent litterae vel acta sive alios laedentes vel perterrefacientes, ipso facto subjaceant excommunicationi Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatae. (Those who have recourse to the lay power in order to impede any letters or acts whatsoever issuing from the Apostolic See or from its Legates, or who directly or indirectly forbid their promulgation or execution, or who on that account injure or terrify either those to whom the letters or acts pertain or any others, are ipso facto subject to an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

Recurrentes——Those incur this censure who with effect have recourse to the civil authority to impede any letters or acts of any kind issued by the Holy See, the Roman Congregations, Offices, Legates, Nuncios, Apostolic Delegates.

Prohibentes—Preventing in any way their promulgation and execution.

Laedentes—Injuring and frightening with effect those to whom the letters belong or others concerned in their promulgation and execution. Canon 2334.

VI. Excommunicatione latae sententiae speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservata plectuntur: (1) Qui leges, mandata, vel decreta contra libertatem aut jura Ecclesiae edunt.

(2) Qui impediunt directe vel indirecte exercitium jurisdictionis ecclesiasticae sive interni sive externi fori, ad hoc recurrentes ad quamlibet laicalem potestatem. (There are punished with an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner: (1) those who issue laws, mandates or decrees against the liberty or the rights of the Church; (2) those who directly or indirectly impede the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whether of the internal or of the external forum, having recourse for this purpose to any lay power whatsoever.)

Edunt.—Public authorities who make laws, issue mandates and decrees against the liberty and rights of the Church, incur this censure.

Impediunt.—As also do those who hinder with effect in any way the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction by having recourse to any sort of lay authority. Canon 2341 VII. Si quis contra praescriptum [privilegii fori] ausus fuerit ad judicem laicum trahere aliquem ex S. *(If anyone, against the prescription of the privilege of the forum, shall have dared to drag before a lay judge any one of the Most Holy)*R.E. Cardinalibus, vel Legatis Sedis Apostolicae, vel officialibus majoribus Romanae Curiae, ob negotia ad eorum munus pertinentia, (Cardinals, or Legates of the Apostolic See, or the major officials of the Roman Curia, on account of business pertaining to their office,) vel Ordinarium proprium, contrahit ipso facto excommunicationem Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatam. (or his own Ordinary, contracts ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

Trahere—Those who without leave of the Holy See summon as defendants, not as witnesses, Cardinals, Nuncios, Delegates Apostolic, or their own Ordinary before a lay judge in a civil or criminal action incur this censure.

Ausus.—Full knowledge and deliberation are required to incur the censure. Canon 2343 VIII. Qui violentas manus injecerit in personam S. *(Whoever lays violent hands on the person of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church,)*R.E. Cardinalis vel Legati Romani Pontificis . . . Patriarchae, Archiepiscopi, Episcopi etiam titularis tantum, incurrit in excommunicationem latae sententiae Sedi Apostolicae speciali modo reservatam. (of a Patriarch, Archbishop, or Bishop even merely titular, incurs an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

Violentas—One who inflicts an injury which amounts to a grievous sin on the body, liberty, or dignity of any of the Prelates mentioned incurs this censure. The injury must be personal and by deed, not by word. Canon 2345 IX. Usurpantes vel detinentes per se vel per alios bona aut jura ad Ecclesiam Romanam pertinentia, subjaceant excommunicationi latae sententiae speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservatae. (Those who usurp or withhold, by themselves or through others, goods or rights belonging to the Roman Church, are subject to an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

Usurpantes.—Seizing and holding as one’s own what belongs to another.

Detinentes Keeping what belongs to the Roman Church though it might have been bought from another who seized it.

Jura.—Rights of all sorts, but here the rights of the Temporal Power of the Pope are specially intended. Canon 2360 X. Omnes fabricatores vel falsarii litterarum decretorum vel rescriptorum Sedis Apostolicae vel iisdem litteris, decretis vel rescriptis scienter utentes incurrunt ipso facto in excommunicationem speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservatam. (All forgers or falsifiers of letters, decrees or rescripts of the Apostolic See, and those who knowingly make use of such letters, decrees or rescripts, incur ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner.)

Fabricatores—Forgers and falsifiers of letters, decrees, and rescripts of the Holy See are all subject to this censure.

Utentes—-Those who make use of letters, decrees, and rescripts forged or falsified by others. They must know that the documents which they use are forged or falsified.

Canon 2363 XI. Si quis per seipsum vel per alios confessarium de sollicitationis crimine apud Superiores falso denunciaverit, ipso facto incurrit in excommunicationem speciali modo Sedi Apostolicae reservatam, a qua nequit ullo in casu absolvi, nisi falsam denuntiationem formaliter retractaverit, et damna, si qua inde secuta sint, pro viribus reparaverit, imposita insuper gravi ac diuturna poenitentia, firmo praescripto Can. (If anyone, by himself or through others, falsely denounces a confessor to Superiors for the crime of solicitation, he incurs ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a special manner, from which he cannot in any case be absolved unless he has formally retracted the false denunciation and, as far as he is able, repaired any damage that has followed from it, a grave and long penance being imposed besides.) 894. By Canon 894 the sin, apart from the censure, is reserved to the Holy See.

On this matter, see above, Penance, Chapter XI.