Canon lawyer believes leading supporter of Pope in Conclave violated the oath of secrecy

While the conclave assistants’ oath of secrecy set out in UDG 48 binds both in conscience and under penalty of law (Canon 1399 per UDG 48, excommunication per UDG 58), a cardinal elector’s oath (UDG 53) gravely binds only in conscience, not under penalty of law; electors who violate the oath they took in public (nb: before Extra omnes is called, per UDG 52) are accountable to God for their deed.*

Enforcing conclave secrecy is very difficult, and there is always a tendency to up the penalties when enforcement of a law is problematic. But, considering the range of information that could be leaked, I think that excommunication, a one-size-fits-all sanction, is too severe. Interdict seems more reasonable, as does a just penalty under Canon 1399.

Catholic journalists should have no part in tempting an elector to break his oath. That would be to act as an occasion of sin in another. Repeating or reporting on information, however, alleged to have been leaked is not, in my opinion, a violation of law.

* (A) Cdl. Kasper, unprompted, stated “Cardinal Bergoglio was from the beginning my candidate and I have from the beginning of the Conclave voted for him.” This seems to me a direct violation of the terms of conclave secrecy. 

(B) Cdl. Mahony stated “when the first blank ballot was given to us, and when it was time to write down a name, something powerful—and strange—happened. I picked up my pen to write, and I began. However, my hand was being moved by some greater spiritual force. The name on the ballot just happened. I had not yet narrowed my thinking down to one name; but it was done for me.” This very odd comment does not, in my opinion, violate the terms of conclave secrecy, but it shows poor judgment

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More propaganda from Linz

Mehr Propaganda aus Linz - kreuz.net –

More propaganda from Linz

Austria. On Monday the Catholic-Theological Private University of Linz gave canon lawyer amd Redemptorist, Father Bruno Primetshofer, an honorary doctorate which was reported by the Diocesan newspaper. The priest compared in his speech the Latin Canon Law with the Code of Canon Law of the Orthodox Eastern Churches. He claimed that for the Byzantines it was "unthinkable" that a bishop could be appointed without the involvement of dioceses. The reverend gentleman awaited the day when "the rigidity of the Western canon law no longer prevails."

Vatican Radio Canon Lawyer on SSPX excommunications

Cathcon translation of Glücklich und dankbar Happy and Thankful

The canon lawyer and Latinist at Vatican Radio has commented on the potential lifting of the excommunication of the four Lefebvre bishops.

He had a message about the impending withdrawal of the excommunication of the four Lefebvre bishops

"Happy and grateful, " said the German-Dutch canon lawyer the Right Revd Gero P. Weishaupt on the 22nd January in a broadcast.

Fr Weishaupt is the diocesan judge in the ecclesiastical court of the Dutch Diocese of Roermond, Latinist at Radio Vatican, lecturer in ecclesiastical law as well as a defender of the marriage bond and Canonical Vicar of the Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch.

He raises the question as to whether a Excommunicatio latae sententiae – the legal consequence of the offense of the Episcopal ordinations – from the point of view Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre episcopal ordinations in “grave necessity”- ever took place.

For if such an excommunication was not achieved, then the Excommunicatio declarata subsequently declared by Pope John Paul II was invalid:

"For where there is nothing, you cannot even in retrospect find something" - so Fr Weishaupt.
A Excommunicatio declarata is when an automatic excommunication is again declared by the ecclesiastical authorities whereby stronger legal consequences result in the external legal forum.

As it is now being said that the Pope wants to repeal the excommunication, "then the excommunication actually occurred and had been later legally established as a fact" - explains Fr Weishaupt further.

He noted however, mitigations are provided in the Canon 1324, Section 1. The fifth mitigation mentions an offender, "one who was compelled by grave fear, even if only relative, or by reason of necessity or grave inconvenience, if the act is intrinsically evil or tends to be harmful to souls."

It is all about the offence committed in an emergency situation, also if this can be seen subjectively as such:

The canon lawyer then refers to the wording in the third paragraph of the same Canon 1324: "Under the circumstances explained in Para 1, the offender shall not incur punishment due to the act" - and concludes: "This means that when an emergency occurs no excommunication is admitted."

If this was the case, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the other bishops never incurred excommunication.

His conclusion: "I'm eager to see how Rome will argue this in Canon Law. In any event, we are heading towards hopeful times in the Church. "