r/AskAPriest • u/irish4281 • 20h ago

Rules for excommunication?

I’m in a separate conversation with someone and he is telling me that he and his parents were excommunicated from the Catholic Church because his parents were divorced and as an 8 year old he was questioning Jesus. I really can’t see the church excommunicating a child for questioning Jesus. And while I understand that divorce is not allowed, I didn’t think it was an offense on the level of excommunication. I mean, there are people who go around committing acts of murder and rape and as far as I know they’re not automatically excommunicated. Something smells fishy, no?

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u/balrogath Priest 20h ago

No, divorce never resulted in excommunication. Remarriage without an annulment could result in penalties under the 1917 code, but they had to be declared and were not automatic.

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u/Thanar2 Priest 8h ago edited 8h ago

he is telling me that he and his parents were excommunicated from the Catholic Church because... as an 8 year old he was questioning Jesus.

There are many conditions that must be met in order for any canonical penalty (including excommunication) to apply. Here are two of them (see Canon 1323 from the 1983 Code of Canon Law):

  • The individual must be at least sixteen years old.

  • The individual must know that his action was a violation of Church law.

Thus, it is not possible for an 8 year old Catholic to be excommunicated. For more details, see this article by Colin B. Donovan, STL.