such as excommunication, imposed without stating . . . the charges preferred . . . are void, and are subject to immediate appeal to the highest court in the church, and to the Pope himself.

Former President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, joined a historically black Freemason lodge just one day before he left the presidency, an offense punishable by excommunication in the Church.

A priest was excommunicated from a parish in Livorno in January last year for calling Pope Francis a “usurper” in a New Year’s Eve homily, which marked the first anniversary of the death of the pope’s ...