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Apostolicae Sedis moderationi is a papal bull (also described as an apostolic constitution [1] ) issued by Pope Pius IX on 12 October 1869, which revised the list of censures that in canon law were imposed automatically ( lata sententia ) on offenders. It reduced their number and clarified those preserved.
As is customary for such documents, the bull is known by its incipit, the opening words of the text.
Church laws imposing censures were multiplied in the course of centuries, some confirming, modifying or abrogating previous enactments. [2]
The Council of Trent (1545–63) simplified them, but numerous new laws continued to be enacted, altering and complicating the previous situation. The result was confusion for canonists, perplexity for moralists, and often hesitation for the faithful. Hence the need for a general revision of all the material. [2]
The automatic censures that in their revised form were kept were organized in a number of categories according to the authority that had the power to absolve from them:
Although a censure is merely a medicinal penalty, the chief purpose of which is the reformation of the person who has incurred it, it does not cease of itself merely by one's reformation. It has to be taken away by the power that inflicts it. The censures are classified in Apostolicae Sedis moderationi with respect to the authority that has the power to absolve from them. Any priest who has jurisdiction to absolve from sin can also absolve from censures, unless a censure be reserved, as a sin might be reserved; and some of the censures named in the bull Apostolicae Sedis are not reserved. [2]
Some censures of Apostolicae Sedis moderationi are reserved to bishops; so that bishops, within their own jurisdiction, or someone specially delegated by them, can absolve from censures so reserved. Some are reserved to the Pope, so that not even a bishop can absolve from these without a delegation from the Pope. Twelve censures are reserved in a special manner (speciali modo) to the Pope; so that to absolve from any of these, even a bishop requires a delegation that specifically names them. These twelve censures, except the tenth, were taken from the bull In Coena Domini , so called because from 1364 to 1770 it was annually published at Rome, and after 1567 elsewhere also, on Holy Thursday. Of these eleven canonical offences, five refer to attacks on the foundation of the Church, that is, on its faith and constitution. Three refer to attacks on the power of the Church and on the free exercise of that power. The other three refer to attacks on the spiritual or temporal treasures of the Church. [2]
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the eighth century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States, and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City state. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The reigning pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013.
Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditionalist Catholicism. In 1970, five years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to train seminarians in the traditional manner, in the village of Écône, Switzerland. In 1988, Pope John Paul II declared that Archbishop Lefebvre had "incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law" for consecrating four bishops against the pope's express prohibition but, according to Lefebvre, in reliance on an "agreement given by the Holy See ... for the consecration of one bishop."
Exsurge Domine is a papal bull promulgated on 15 June 1520 by Pope Leo X. It was written in response to the teachings of Martin Luther which opposed the views of the Catholic Church. The bull censured forty-one propositions abstracted from Luther's writings, and threatened him with excommunication unless he recanted within a sixty-day period commencing upon the publication of the bull in Saxony and its neighboring regions.
Ecclesia Dei is the document Pope John Paul II issued on 2 July 1988 in reaction to the Ecône consecrations, in which four priests of the Society of Saint Pius X were ordained as bishops despite an express prohibition by the Holy See. The consecrating bishop and the four priests consecrated were excommunicated. John Paul called for unity and established the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to foster a dialogue with those associated with the consecrations who hoped to maintain both loyalty to the papacy and their attachment to traditional liturgical forms.
Bernard Fellay is a Swiss bishop who opposes the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council. Fellay is the former superior general of the Traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). In 1988, Pope John Paul II announced that Fellay and three others were automatically excommunicated for being consecrated as bishops by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, an act that the Holy See described as "unlawful" and "schismatic". Archbishop Lefebvre, and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer who co-consecrated these four bishops, were also said to be automatically excommunicated. At that time, he was the youngest bishop of the Roman Catholic Church at 30 years old.
Alfonso de Galarreta Genua,, is a Spanish-born Argentine traditionalist Catholic bishop of the Society of Saint Pius X. Bishop de Galarreta has served as the First Assistant of the Society of Saint Pius X, working under the direction of the Superior General Fr. Davide Pagliarani, since 2018. In addition to this, Bishop de Galaretta has been the President of the SSPX—Vatican Commission since 2009, which directs the Society's correspondence with the Holy See.
Antônio de Castro Mayer was a Brazilian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Traditionalist Catholic and ally of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, he was Bishop of Campos from 1949 until his resignation in 1981.
Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is jurisdiction by church leaders over other church leaders and over the laity.
Latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae are ways sentences are imposed in the Catholic Church in its canon law.
In Coena Domini was a recurrent papal bull between 1363 and 1770, so called from its opening words, formerly issued annually on Holy Thursday, or later on Easter Monday.
The Declaration on Masonic Associations is a declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith re-iterating the prohibition of Catholics from joining Masonic organizations. Its Latin title is Declaratio de associationibus massonicis. The document states that Catholics who join Masonic organizations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. It was issued in 1983 by the prefect of the congregation, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005.
The Écône consecrations were Catholic episcopal consecrations in Écône, Switzerland, on 30 June 1988 performed by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer. The bishops consecrated were four priests of Lefebvre's Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). The consecrations, performed against the explicit orders of Pope John Paul II, represented a milestone in the troubled relationship of Lefebvre and the SSPX with the Church leadership. The Holy See's Congregation for Bishops issued a decree signed by its Prefect Cardinal Bernardin Gantin declaring that Lefebvre and De Castro Mayer had incurred automatic excommunication by consecrating the bishops without papal consent, thus putting himself and his followers in schism.
Giovanni Tacci Porcelli known as Giovanni Tacci was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Città della Pieve for twenty years, then a papal ambassador, and finally secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from 1922 to 1927. He was made a cardinal in 1921.
Ad Apostolorum principis is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Communism and the Church in China. It describes systematic persecutions of bishops, priests, religious and faithful and the attempts of the government to establish a patriotic Catholic Church, independent of Rome.
Reserved cases or reserved sins is a term of Catholic doctrine, used for sins whose absolution is not within the power of every confessor, but is reserved to himself by the superior of the confessor, or only specially granted to some other confessor by that superior.
De delictis gravioribus is a letter written on 18 May 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to all the Bishops of the Catholic Church and the other Ordinaries concerned, including those of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
The Bulls, etc., from Rome Act 1571 was an Act of the Parliament of England during the English Reformation, with the long-title An Act against the bringing in and putting in execution of bulls writings or instruments and other superstitious things from the See of Rome.
In the canon law of the Catholic Church, excommunication is a form of censure. In the formal sense of the term, excommunication includes being barred not only from the sacraments but also from the fellowship of Christian baptism. The principal and severest censure, excommunication presupposes guilt; and being the most serious penalty that the Catholic Church can inflict, it supposes a grave offense. The excommunicated person is considered by Catholic ecclesiastical authority as an exile from the Church, for a time at least.
A censure, in the canon law of the Catholic Church, is a medicinal and spiritual punishment imposed by the Church on a baptized, delinquent, and contumacious individual. This punishment deprives the person, either wholly or partially, of certain spiritual goods until they resolve their contumacy. These spiritual goods may include access to the sacraments, participation in specific liturgical activities, and involvement in ecclesiastical functions.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the canon law of the Catholic Church:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : O'Riordan, Michael (1907). "Apostolicae Sedis Moderationi". Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1.
