Go ahead and excommunicate me

Who is this Archbishop Fisichella that dares threaten the Catholic faithful who may criticize the Pope with excommunication? As outrageous as it seems, that is exactly what he has done. On this eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Year of Mercy begins. As part of this special Year, the Pope has appointed 800 priests and given them personal faculties with no interference permitted by any diocesan bishop when these priests enter a diocese. They are to forgive sins reserved to the Holy See.

Well, it is not to forgive sins but to lift the canonical penalty for the offenses which one could be excommunicated.

They will tell you that it includes women who have procured an abortion, but this is not the case. Long ago, this authority was delegated to the bishops and then to the priest in most places of the world so that women suffering from post-abortive distress would seek the spiritual salve of the Sacrament and return to the faith. Yes, that is mercy.

But what are the others?

Profanation of the Holy Eucharist to be sure is a most heinous crime. How many still pour the Precious Blood down the sink, let alone a sacrarium and equally as blasphemous, whether out of ignorance or disbelief in the Real Presence. But these are not held accountable as it happens in the course of the team of "Eucharistic Ministers." The wording is "one who throws away the consecrated species or, for a sacrilegious purpose, takes them away or keeps them”; 

What others?

Well, what layman has broken the seal of the confessional? 

Since the laity are not priests well, it doesn't apply; specifically, a confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal”; and a confessor who absolves “an accomplice in a sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue.” 

Have you consecrated a bishop lately or received it without a papal mandate? Perhaps they can show some mercy to Bishop Richard Williamson as I know no other but him.

But here is the big one.

"A person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff."

Fisichella now says  “I would say that we need to understand well ‘physical violence,’ because sometimes words, too, are rocks and stones, and therefore I believe some of these sins, too, are far more widespread than we might think.” 

Who is he speaking of? 

What on earth are these 800 priests to do? How many penitents are there in these categories for the Holy See to lift the canonical penalties?

Reading Fisischella, one realises how fishy this year of false mercy really is. Perhaps he might wish to consult one of the world's leading Canonists, Dr. Edward Peters.