00:00Hello, dear brothers and sisters! How are you? I am very happy to be with you again in this new video series that we are starting, which we call Knowing in Order to Love.
00:11I continually receive a large number of questions about different topics that are important to people, things that have sometimes not been clear in our catechesis and evangelization.
00:27So through these short videos we want to try to answer these questions, these issues that we sometimes have and that we don't know the answers to, and this leads us to have a mistaken idea of what our faith is.
00:44I want to start today with a question we received from Guadalajara. Fernando Ruiz asks, does the word "comulgado" mean that one cannot receive communion?
00:57Well, the word excommunicated is a very strong and delicate word, which goes far beyond simply not being able to receive communion.
01:21It is true that the word seems to refer to the sacrament of communion, however, the word excommunication refers to being excluded from the communion of the church.
01:32In other words, an excommunicated person is excluded from the church, which theologically implies that their salvation is reserved solely to the mercy of God.
01:45Therefore, an excommunicated person not only cannot approach sacramental communion, but is also deprived of all the rights granted by baptism.
01:56To fall into excommunication or be excommunicated from the church, one must commit a very serious sin.
02:05Normally all these sins are defined by the code of canon law and in all cases their forgiveness is generally reserved to the bishop.
02:16although there are some that are reserved even for the Holy Father, the Holy See.
02:22The most common of these sins is committing or participating in an abortion, as stated in the Code of Canon Law in number 1398.
02:33Thus, the person who induces an abortion or anyone who assists them in any way, by giving or lending money, taking them to the doctor, nurses, physicians,
02:47Whoever transports it, whoever suggests it, is excommunicated, it is said, the sentence is pronounced.
02:55This means that even if he is already excommunicated, he does not need to be notified that he is excommunicated for the excommunication to take effect.
03:06By participating, one is automatically excommunicated.
03:11This sin, being so serious, requires, in order to be forgiven and to return to the communion of the church, the express forgiveness of the bishop.
03:19Another sin, which although not very common, does require express forgiveness from the Holy Father, is, for example, the sin of profaning the Eucharistic species.
03:31If a person were to profane the most holy Eucharist, their pardon would be reserved to the Holy See, as indicated in the Code of Canon Law in number 1367.
03:41This is not new. We already see this type of reaction from the church in the first letter to the Corinthians.
03:51From the words of Saint Paul we know of the strictness of judgment for those who commit very serious acts within the church.
03:59For example, you can refer to the case in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, the first 13 verses,
04:06or what Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 18, verses 15 to 18.
04:14Finally, we must distinguish between excommunication and being in an irregular state or habitual sin.
04:22as is the case of divorced and remarried people.
04:25The first excludes the sinner from the communion of the church,
04:31while the second only limits it in terms of receiving the sacraments of reconciliation
04:37and communion by virtue of having broken the marital communion, a sign of communion with God and with his church.
04:47We see then that a person who is divorced is not excommunicated.
04:53A person who is divorced and does not live with anyone can approach the sacraments.
05:02A person who is divorced but already living with another person is not excommunicated.
05:08but is deprived only of the sacrament of reconciliation and the sacrament of the Eucharist.
05:16And well, I hope that with this we have not only been able to answer Fernando,
05:20but also that it will be good information for you that helps you learn more about our church.
05:28And well, that's all for today.
05:30See you at our next catechesis.
05:33Thank you for joining us.
05:34Blessings.
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