Mrs Onassis Said To Be “Public Sinner”
(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter—Copyright) ROME, November 7. The Vatican weekly, “L’Osservatore Della Domenica,” today made clear that the Roman Catholic Church regards Mrs Jacqueline Onassis as a public sinner for marrying a divorced man—although it did not refer to her by name.
The paper declared that the act of marrying a divorced person still bound by a former marriage amounted to “practical renunciation” of one’s faith. It left no doubt that the former Mrs Kennedy was no exception. Such a marriage would be regarded as null by Church, the paper said. The partners placed themselves automatically in a state of irregularity for which existing ecclesiastical law did not hesitate to qualify them as public sinners.
The paper emphasised that there was no question of excommunication, only of certain penalties. These meant exclusion from such things as the Euchar-
ist, the Sacrements, and even a church burial if the public sinner had not shown signs of sincere receptance before death, the paper said.
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Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 11
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167Mrs Onassis Said To Be “Public Sinner” Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 11
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