Maybe justice will be served?
HERESY LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST KERRY IN CANONICAL COURT
Los Angeles, Jul. 01 (CWNews.com) - A Los Angeles lay canon lawyer and assistant judge in the archdiocesan tribunal has initiated a heresy case against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Marc Balestrieri, 33, filed the " denunciation" with the Archdiocese of Boston on June 14, and posted the 18-page complaint to his web site at
www.defide.com. Kerry is a US Senator from Massachusetts.
Balestrieri told the Washington Times : " Heresy is a public, ecclesiastical crime. It affects entire communities. It is one of the greatest sins you can commit." He added, " My goal is his repentance, not excommunication." The canon lawyer said he filed the heresy charge based on his public pro-abortion stance. " People are saying you can be pro-choice and be a good Christian, that it is not contrary to the faith to support aborted murder," he said. Balestrieri said such heresy threatens every Catholic' s possession of the faith. To that end, he encouraged other Catholics to visit his web site and sign on as third-party members of the class-action lawsuit.
While a Catholic layman may bring a case against another layman in an ecclesiastical court, it is highly unusual, and it is even more unusual for such a charge to be brought against a politician, rather than an official of the Church.
Asked why he had brought the case now, against Kerry, Balestrieri told the Washington Times, " Bishops have had 41 years to do something on this matter, but they' ve done nothing." The lawsuit is currently being reviewed by the Archdiocese of Boston, and if accepted will be considered by a three-judge panel and Kerry will be given an opportunity to defend himself against the charges. If the archdiocese refuses to review the case, Balestrieri will have the option to appeal to the Vatican' s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and it' s prefect, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.