Many people believe that excommunication is the Catholic Church’s equivalent of capital punishment — the worst punishment that the church can impose on a believer. Some even see it as the earthly equivalent of being cast into hell.
People call for priests who abuse children to be excommunicated because they want the priests to receive the most severe punishment available. When a serial abuser such as former Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik is excommunicated for a related offense, they are shocked to hear that his excommunication was lifted a week after it was imposed.
What is going on here?
First, not all crimes demand excommunication. If you are found guilty of one that does, in some circumstances you are not excommunicated unless you knew what you’d done is an excommunicable offense and you persisted in the offense.
Actions that can lead to excommunication include violation (desecration) of the sacred species (Eucharist),…
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