There’s a brewing dispute between some local church advocates representing the Santa Romana Iglesia Catolica and members of the city council of Davao that may arouse the interest of the Catholics and even non-Catholics. It’s about a member of the Knights of Columbus, a mandated lay organization of the Catholic Church seeking to excommunicate from liturgical privileges the city councilors who voted for the passage of the city ordinance entitled Women’s Health Care Clinic which they perceive as teaching sex education that could lead to the practice of abortion.
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Justinian Joaquin, a member of the Knights of Columbus, wrote to his “brother knights” urging them to collectively appeal to Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla seeking the excommunication of some city councilors from spiritual advantages of the Church saying that “they do not deserve to be called Catholics.” No reaction on the issue, by far, has been heard from the Bishop’s Palace.
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To our understanding, the practice of excommunication which dates back during the dark days of the dreaded Holy Inquisition in Europe has been long abandoned by the Mother Church as an irritant between the religious ministry and the State. Excommunication may be defined as a form of punishment, an ecclesiastical censure, against a Catholic faithful for committing a serious offense against the Church, where the excommunicated is deprived of spiritual advantages and expelled from the religious organization. It goes way back to the Middle Ages.
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It came to pass one day when the Pope, disturbed by the many complaints of the peasants against the oppressive taxes levied upon them by the imperial authorities, called on the Emperor suggesting that his taxmen should not impose heavy burden on the poor peasants who hardly had enough food to eat. The Emperor ignored the suggestion of the Pope and told the Pontiff point blank that taxation was the affair of the state and the High Priest had no business interfering with the affairs of the government, warning that if the Pope persists with his annoying protest, he would have him arrested.
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But the Pope continued to rally in behalf of the poor faithful who were already groaning under the heavy imposition of taxes and warned the Emperor against arresting him otherwise the Church would excommunicate him and his legion. There would be no more church weddings, baptismal, confession, communion etc., for whoever is identified with the empire.
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It was at the time when the Emperor and his armies were almost always at war defending the empire against outside aggressors. The soldiers would come after the armed conflict tired, their conscience bothering them for killing their enemies in the battle. They would seek a priest to hear their confessions to ease their feeling of guilt in their minds.
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But the Pope had already excommunicated all the people identified with the Emperor including his army of soldiers, thus the priest would not confess them unless the penitent soldiers agreed to renounce their loyalty to the Emperor. This had caused so much trouble to the empire, as there were several attempts to assassinate the Emperor in a plot allegedly initiated by the ecclesiastics. The Emperor retaliated with a secret move to murder the Pope but the plot failed and that’s when the trouble began.
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Soon enough the situation went out of control. The Pope, using the money from the Papal treasury, began raising private armies to fight the Emperor. History tells that Pope Gregory VII fought several battles with Emperor Henry IV in the 11th century that disrupted the peace of Europe for almost fifty years but the conflict decided nothing. The Emperor and the Pope continued with their own ways telling each other to mind their own business in such belligerent manner that ultimately led to war.
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It was very difficult for the faithful to decide. They were faithful to the Church but they were also loyal to their Emperor. While they look up to their Emperor as their worldly master who protected them and looked after their well being as subjects of the empire, they also regarded the Pope as their spiritual master who guarded their souls from damnation. But the Emperor and the Pope were enemies. Which side should they take?
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Come to think of it, the move of the Pope in his desire to protect the poor against the oppressive taxes telling the Emperor to turn down his tax collection on the peasants because it was hurting the poor is actually interference on the affairs of the State by the Church. But the Pope at that time had no way of protecting the poor against the tyrannic imposition of taxes by the empire on the people except by excommunicating the Emperor and all those identified with him with an aim at exciting the faithful to rise in rebellion against their imperial master which is opposed to the teachings of the Church.
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It was in this context perhaps that the College of Cardinals, the highest advisory and policy-making body of the Holy See abolished excommunication as ecclesiastic censure on erring faithful. They had such a sad experience with Church using excommunication as an instrument to compel the imperial authorities against performing their duties as truly an act of interference by Church on the affairs of the State.
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With reference to the appeal of Joaquin seeking Archbishop Monsignor Capalla to excommunicate from the Catholic Church the city councilors responsible in the passage of the ordinance on Women’s Health Care Clinic, this may be impossible for the Davao bishop to pursue as such an act would squarely fall on the interference of the Church on the affairs of the State violative of the Constitution. The ordinance in question is as good as passed whether the mayor signs it or not after 15 days from its enactment.
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