# What makes someone Catholic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014 "2002-12-16T04:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheLadyLion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d78d45/32.png) [@TheLadyLion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLadyLion)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/21 "2002-12-16T16:38:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*Incorrect. In fact, one of the prerequisites to receiving an annulment from the Catholic Church is that the couple shall have already gone through a civil divorce. \*\* That’s assuming, Walloon, that the couple in question sought an annulment. Many Catholic couples have no grounds for an annulment and many don’t bother to seek one. There are only certain circumstances under which the Catholic Church will legitimately grant an annulment. I still stand by my statement, however, that I was taught divorced people were not permitted to receive communion. If this has been changed post-Vatican II, please help me find that information and I will stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/22 "2002-12-16T16:48:36Z")
[Catechism of the Catholic Church](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc_cont.html). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/23 "2002-12-16T16:59:17Z")
From the Vatican’s official Web site: [The reception of the holy communion by the divorced and remarried members of the faithful](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_14091994_rec-holy-comm-by-divorced_en.html) (1994). The term “divorced and remarried” is operative in this document. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/24 "2002-12-16T17:14:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > \*\*Roman Catholics: In reality, divorce = excommunication from the church. > > I guess technically, you can be Roman Catholic and be ex-communicated, but essentially, your Roman Catholocism is cooked, considering the crux of what Roman Catholicism is all about. \*\* Um, no. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic. Excommunication means you are a Catholic in a state of sin. The [Master](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_242.html) already covered this. > [@](#): > > Strictly speaking, excommunication does not render you a non-Catholic. It merely means you’re a Catholic who’s been damned to hell. What’s more, it isn’t intended to permanently separate you from the church; rather, it’s a “medicinal” procedure, meant to make you see the error of your ways. If in fact you do become reconciled later, you won’t be rebaptized, just forgiven. In the eyes of the church, once a Catholic, always a Catholic. (I know you retracted, but I’m merely repeating this for anyone else who may be confused.) And the Pope is NOT infallible. I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that one-I’d have my student loans paid off and then some. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/25 "2002-12-16T17:21:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*And the Pope is NOT infallible. I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that one-I’d have my student loans paid off and then some. \*\* From the article “Infallibility” in the _Catholic Encyclopedia_ (1913): > [@](#): > > The First Vatican Council has defined as “a divinely revealed dogma” that “the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra – that is, when in the exercise of his office as pastor and teacher of all Christians he defines, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church – is, by reason of the Divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, possessed of that **infallibility** with which the Divine Redeemer wished His Church to be endowed in defining doctrines of faith and morals; and consequently that such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of their own nature (ex sese) and not by reason of the Church’s consent” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/26 "2002-12-16T18:10:17Z")
Walloon, Guin was trying to say that the Pope is not always infallible, but only when speaking _ex cathedra_, as stated in your cite. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/27 "2002-12-16T18:20:02Z")
How do you know what Guin meant, Munch? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/28 "2002-12-16T18:24:03Z")
Because I’ve seen her post on this same subject about 100 times. She’s very consistent. She’s certainly free to correct me. However, this is not a contest, and no one is keeping score.\* [sub]But we all know that I’m winning… :)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014/29 "2002-12-16T18:33:24Z")
And of course, by “she” and “her”, I mean “he” and “him”. I’m very consistent in mistaking Guin’s gender. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-someone-catholic/143014.md?page=1)