We Are Church leader ‘excommunicated’

Pope Francis has reportedly excommunicated the leader of the liberal reform group ‘We Are Church’.

According to reports in the German press, Martha Heater, (67) chair of the movement, and her husband, Gert, incurred excommunication for repeated private celebrations of the Eucharist, which the Church considers a grave sin.

Bishop Manfred Scheuer of Innsbruck is reported to have delivered news of the excommunication to the couple on May 20.

The couple reportedly responded to news of the sanction against them with a press release in which they revealed they had expected the punishment. “We have a law, and according to the law, we must be held accountable,” the release stated, adding, “it shocked us immensely that we find ourselves in the same category as priestly abusers. Especially [as] we know of no single abuser who had been excommunicated.”

Canon Law prescribes a latae sententiate (automatic) interdict on any people who “not being an ordained priest, attempts to celebrate Mass.”