Violence to the person of the Pope (Can. 2343 § 1)

Retinuerit—Keep them for show, out of curiosity to see what would happen to them. Canon 2343 II. Qui violentas manus in personam Romani Pontificis injecerit excommunicationem contrahit latae sententiae Sedi Apostolicae specialissimo modo reservatam, et est ipso facto vitandus; est ipso jure infamis; (Whoever lays violent hands on the person of the Roman Pontiff contracts an excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in a most special manner, and is ipso facto to be shunned; he is infamous by the law itself.) clericus est degradandus, It is a censure which safeguards the personal immunity of the Roman Pontiff by a special form of the privilege of the canon. Canon 2367 III. Absolvens sive fingens absolvere complicem in peccato turpi incurrit ipso facto in excommunicationem specialissimo modo Sedi Apostolicae reservatam; idque etiam in mortis articulo si alius sacerdos, licet non approbatus ad confessiones, sine gravi aliqua exoritura infamia et scandalo, possit excipere morientis confessionem, excepto casu quo moribundus recuset alii confiteri.

Explanation. - To lay violent hands imports striking a cleric injuriously in any way, whether with hands or feet or some instrument, or at least affecting him with an injury in such a way that his person is externally touched. - Wherefore he is not subject to this excommunication who utters insulting words or only simulates or threatens a blow by some sign; on the contrary, he is subject who spits upon a cleric, tears his garment, etc. It is required for excommunication that the blow be gravely sinful, both by reason of matter or exterior force or injury, and by reason of advertence and intention. Nevertheless it must be noted that a blow, whether by reason of exterior violence or by reason of injury but not by reason of sin, is called one thing enormous, another middling or grave only, another light, so that what is light by reason of exterior action can be enormous or grave by reason of injury. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, nn. 273 and 277.

Just as there are grades of dignities, so there are grades in the penalty by which this delict is punished. He who committed it against the august person of the Roman Pontiff is bound by the bond of an excommunication reserved in a most special mode; he who against Cardinals, Bishops, Legates, incurs an excommunication reserved to the Pope in a special mode; in other cases the excommunication is reserved to the proper Ordinary. Pius IX, Apostolicae Sedis, § 11, n. 2.

Clerics: those who have been assigned to divine ministries at least through first tonsure are called clerics. - Cf. Canon 108, § 1. Religious, even laymen and novices, and all women religious enjoy this privilege.

Those usurping or detaining, by themselves or through others, goods or rights pertaining to the Roman Church are subject to excommunication latae sententiae reserved in a special mode to the Apostolic See; and if they were clerics, besides let them be deprived of dignities, benefices, offices, pensions, and declared incapable of the same (Can. 2345).