Church History examples:
1. Martin Luther (one of the most famous and public heretics in all of history), even after nailing his 100 thesis to the door of a church, was not excommunicated until a OVER A YEAR later, after multiple talks, hearings, etc. Does this matter to some in our day? No. They can throw out any and all persons they deem necessary. No matter that they are simple laymen, monks, or priests, with no jurisdiction, no canon law training, and not one iota of ecclesiastical authority.
2. Those who correctly point out that Fr Feeney's excommunication was faulty (and therefore probably null), in that he requested a public hearing with rome officials (as is his right under canon law) but was ignored. Yet these same people don't blink an eye when it comes to deciding that this or that priest, bishop or pope is no longer in office, ignoring all pretenses of a trial, or canon laws, or any kind of procedure whatsoever.
It's shocking in its lack of common sense. It's a (sad) triumph of theory over reality, where "imaginary righteousness" takes precedent over the laws of justice.
Here's the thing that neither of you don't seem to be getting, and I apologize for the lack of clarity: I am operating on the principle elaborated by St. Robert Bellarmine in
De Romano Pontifice, II, 30:
“… for men are not bound, or able to read hearts; but when they see that someone is a heretic by his external works, they judge him to be a heretic pure and simple, and condemn him as a heretic.”
A point which has been codified in the 1917 Code:
Canon 2200 § 2. Positing an external violation of the law, dolus [i.e. malice] in the external forum is presumed until the contrary is proven.
It is not a simple matter of the
sin of heresy, as it is undeniable that heretics can become Catholics again and have a right to the Sacrament of penance. But a matter of the state they occupy which ipso-facto eliminates their exercise of office through excommunication:
Canon 2340 § 1. If anyone from an obdurate spirit stays for a year under the censure of excommunication, he is suspected of heresy.
§ 2. If a cleric stays for six months under the censure of suspension, he shall be gravely warned; and if, a month from the warning having passed, he has not withdrawn from contumacy, he shall be deprived of benefices and offices that he might have had in the Church.
The fact that these Antipopes have committed many heresies in the external forum, as Stubborn admitted that they
are heretics, my presuming their loss of office follows on this fact because their obduracy has persisted for years. It is not a matter of waiting for a formal declaration, or canonical judgment. Once one is seen to be a heretic in the external forum, then it is acceptable to condemn him as such.
And given the Church teachings I have quoted previously, these men are firmly outside of the Church and cannot legitimately hold their offices.