VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
Martha Heizer and her husband Ehemann Gert, members of the critical movement “We are Church” celebrated private masses without priests. They said they are disconcerted by the decision”. The Bishop of Innsbruk said: “Exclusion is always a defeat for the Church
VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME
The Pope has punished Martha Heizer (67) the president of the Austrian Catholic movement “We are Church” and her husband Ehemann Gert, with the highest ecclesiastical sanction: excommunication. The Pope’s decision come after the two regularly simulated Eucharistic celebrations, which is a serious offense (“delictum gravius”). The couple will now no longer be able to receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church. In a statement, they said they were “disconcerted by Rome’s decision.”
The couple celebrated masses in the absence of a priest, in their home in Absam, a small municipality near the Tyrolese capital. According to the Tiroler Tageszeitung, the case had sparked a scandal back in 2011, when the woman – who teaches religion in Innsbruck – decided to defy the Vatican, announcing her intention to celebrate mass even att he cost of risking excommunication.
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